Naruto of the Red Sands
by Orpheus Kidwell
Summary: On his Seventh birthday, Naruto runs away from Konoha during one of the annual 'Fox Hunts' and has only one thought in his mind. Revenge. He is taken under the wing of Sasori of the Red Sand and becomes the next puppet master, surpassing even his master. Tremble, Konohagakure no Sato, for Naruto of the Red Sands has been born, and he's calling for blood. Dark!Naruto NarutoxKin
1. Chapter I

**Naruto of the Red Sands**

**Chapter I**

**A/N: Hey all, it's Orpheus with my new story, Naruto of the Red Sands!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, unfortunately.**

October 10, most wouldn't see the day as significant. To most of the Elemental Nations, it's just another day. Nothing special at all.

To Konoha, it's the Kyuubi Festival, celebrating the 'defeat' of the Nine-Tailed Fox at the hands of their beloved Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato. That's the official story, anyways.

To anyone the age 30 or more… it is something else entirely. It's the day the 'Fox Hunts' are held to help in finishing what the Yondaime started.

To one seven year old boy, it's none of these things. It's his birthday, and the one day of the year he hates the most. He knows the truth of the matter. He found out why people call him 'Fox brat', 'Demon' and so many more names in his short life. He found out two years ago, on his fifth birthday, after the matron of Konoha's orphanage kicked him out of the only home he ever had.

She told the 'Fox Hunt' where to find him, she told them when to be there, and she just looked the other way as he was taken. He was beat, stabbed, cut, and bludgeoned that day. It was also the day he first met his one and only friend in this world.

That was the day Uzumaki Naruto started to hate the Leaf Village for their ignorance.

**"Less reminiscing and more running, Naruto!" **A female voice ordered from inside his mind. That was the Kyuubi no Yoko, or Hitomi, as Naruto knew her. That was her true name, instead of the title she was given by the ignorant humans. 'I know, Hitomi-chan! I'm running!'

The Fox Hunt had started a half hour ago, and it was 'good training' as Hitomi had once commented. It was usually a daily or every other day occurrence for him to be chased around the village, and as such, Naruto's physical endurance had increased. That didn't mean the young jinchuriki liked it though. Who would?

'Hitomi-chan, today?' he asked within his head. He could almost feel the vixen nod. **"Yes, Naruto-kun… today is the day. I want you to leave Konoha today." **Naruto inwardly nodded at that.

With a single burst of chakra through his feet, courtesy of Hitomi's teachings of the past two years, Naruto leapt on top of one of the roofs. Then he made a mad dash for a certain house, before jumping over one of Konoha's walls, halfway between the north and west gates, a place with no guards.

With that, he leapt through the forest, visions of the accursed village of Konohagakure no Sato burning to the ground already running through his head.

Also in the forest outside Konoha, is a certain master of puppets. Walking on the ground at a leisurely pace was a figure that looked to be no older than fifteen. He had short red hair of a shade common to Suna, reddish-brown eyes and wore a long grey cloak that covered his body completely besides his hands, fce, and feet- which had ninja sandals on.

It was Sasori, or as he is more widely known, Sasori of the Red Sands, master puppeteer and killer of the Sandaime Kazekage. He was an S-ranked missing nin of Suna. Right now, he was searching the Elemental Nations for scrolls of powerful jutsu. After all, with all his puppets, he could have one of them use any technique he found, no matter what element.

Konoha happened to have quite a bit of Fire jutsus. So he was headed there. He didn't expect anyone to be anywhere near him, though. There was that chakra signature that kept following him through the trees. It wasn't a threat, even if it seemed pretty high.

Whoever held it obviously meant no harm to him, and obviously didn't know who he was. Or so the genius puppet master assumed. With a sigh and a shake of his head, Sasori called out "Come on out, I can sense you! Don't make me use force!" Suddenly, a boy even younger in appearance than himself was in front of him.

The boy couldn't be older than seven or eight, had a mess of spiky blonde hair, _very _bright blue eyes, three whisker marks on each cheek, and was wearing a black shirt and pants with ninja sandals. The shirt had a red Uzumaki swirl on the right shoulder. "Who are you? What do you think you're doing following me around, gaki?"

The boy seethed at being called a brat, but spoke calmly. Sasori saw the coldness and pain in those eyes… worse than they ever were in his own eyes. "My name… is Uzumaki Naruto." Sasori's eyes widened at that. _'A living Uzumaki? Didn't they all die? I thought uzumaki Kushina was the last one… unless… could he be?" _"And I was following you because you seem like a strong ninja from your chakra levels." _'A sensor? He's too young though.' _"I just left the village you're heading towards, and I know you don't have generous plans for it. I want you to teach me… Sasori-san."

The redhead looked the boy up and down. _'He knows who I am, at such a young age? And his chakra levels… even without being a sensory-type, I can tell they'ree high for a boy his age… high-jounin at the very least. So what was said about the Uzumakis is true.' _"And why should I train you?"

The boy smiled slightly. "Why, Sasori-san, I was under some sort of impression that you wanted things from Konoha's jutsu library from the Hokage Tower, ne? I knew the Hokage personally, and he would let me stay in his office alone. You think I didn't memorize the scrolls there? Or make a copy of them?" Sasori smiled at the young boy and shook his head.

"So young, and so devious; reminds me of… a fox. Sure, I'll train you, Naruto. Those jutsus and your assistance on my personal missions will be payment for your apprenticeship." The boy grinned at his new sensei. "Come on, we have places to be, totei (apprentice)." Naruto nodded and followed Sasori, ready to begin his plan for revenge. **"Konoha will pay, kit. We will have our revenge… Dattebayo." **The Fox said, teasing Naruto with the last word. _'Oh, yes they will.'_

Two months passed under Sasori's teachings and Naruto was ecstatic. The first week consisted of Naruto refining his chakra control to an acceptable level to create chakra stings. The second was spent learning how to make a chakra string from each finger, but that took until the end of the first month to do, because he would always make them either too thick or too thin.

Once he perfected his slightly purple chakra strings, Sasori, as a reward, gifted him with his first puppet. It wasn't an organic one, much to the Uzumaki's dismay, but a wooden one of his master's own creation. He called it Karasu, Crow, and it was, plain and simple, a tool of assassination. Almost five feet tall of oak in humanoid form with brown hair and three eyes in a triangle formation on its head, four arms on the torso and dressed in a brown cloak that was in tatters on the sides, it was very creepy. But every single inch of the thing was a weapon, and every weapon was poisoned in Sasori's own personal brand of nerve poison and nerve gas that would kill anyone slowly and painfully without the antidote carried by only two people, Sasori and Naruto.

It took all of three days for Naruto to master the movements of Karasu through chakra strings and he eventually got down to being able to use crow with only three fingers to the mastery of a normal puppet master would need ten to do. He was readying himself for his next puppet, which his sensei promised would be his today.

All he had to do was make his first kill of a ninja. So they were right outside of Kiri. Surely he could find at least one ninja to be a useful puppet? The blonde jinchuriki surely hoped so.

"Are you ready, Naruto?" He heard Sasori ask him as they sat in a tree right outside the Mist Village. Naruto nodded calmly as he idly stroked the scroll held in his trench coat. In two months, his attire had changed little, he still wore all black, the only difference was he had taken to wearing a dull black trench coat that had plenty of pockets for scrolls and other things.

Other things had changed drastically though. Sasori had figured out Naruto's jinchuriki status and created a steel tail for him that matched his scorpion one, Naruto's, however, was reminiscent of a fox's tail, and could split into nine parts, much to Hitomi's amusement. The tail itself had a hidden dagger in the tip and was segmented, each segment could split a little, letting chakra-powered circular saws out. He loved his deadly present.

On top of that, his teacher had given him two black bracers with hidden blades and two wrist-mounted senbon launchers. Sasori's personal taijutsu style that Naruto was learning heavily relied on machinery, a mechanized chakra-powered tail, hidden blades, and poisons. He called it the mekasasori style (mechanical scorpion), and remarked that Naruto had all but mastered the basics.

"Let's go then, totei." Naruto nodded and as one they leapt over the Kiri wall at a point without guards. The two stood on a roof and scanned the village. "Naruto, I heard rumors of a civil war within Kiri due to the Yondaime Mizukage decreeing bloodlines punishable by death. It should be no problem finding an injured jonin with a bloodline to finish off. Do not pick a fight that you fear you may lose. Understand?" The blonde nodded. "Good, I'm off to the Mizukage Tower for a few water scrolls. Flare your chakra if you have any trouble."

"Hai, sensei. I will." With that the redhead left in a sand shunshin and Naruto smiled. _'Hitomi-chan? Where's the biggest amount of negative emotions?' _Throughout his time with his vixen prisoner, he found that she could sense any negative emotion, the stronger, the better she could sense it. So, he regularly used it to locate bandit camps for his sensei. **"Well, Naruto-kun, there's this mass of people off to the north… a mob. And I can feel a large amount of fear from a single source… sort of reminds me of Konoha's 'Fox Hunts.'"**

Naruto had a serious look on his face and sped off in that direction, eventually seeing what he was hoping against. A group of twenty adults had cornered a girl his age with pale skin, long black hair, and wore an icy blue kimono. She looked absolutely terrified. Naruto was furious and unsealed Karasu from a scroll, controlling it with one hand while he jumped down in front of her. "What the hell is your problem, attacking a defenseless girl, you bastards?" One of them growled.

"That ain't no defenseless girl! It has the accursed Hyoton! And by Yagura-sama's degree, must die!" Naruto gaped at them, before growling. He talked to who he was protecting without taking his eyes from his opponents.

"Stay behind me. Got it?" He heard a mumbled and terrified "H-hai!" from behind him and focused. Twitching his fingers ever so slightly, Karasu opened its mouth and shot out a round of blades, impaling three through their heart, two in the neck, and another five took injuries to arms or legs, hissing in pain as the poison began to take effect.

Two he didn't hit made a dash for him, kitchen knives in hand. _'Civilians, seriously?' _He started a series of one-handed seals to a wind jutsu Sasori had taught him after testing his affinity to find it as Wind and Fire, with a secondary affinity for Water. "_Futon: Kaze no Yaiba!_" (Wind Release: Blades of Wind) Several blades of wind materialized and shot forward, slicing up the two civilians and three other foolish people who hadn't backed away. _'Ten down, five more will die soon. Hitomi-chan, how many ninja?' _**"Luckily, only one. He's in the back, watching you." **Naruto mentally nodded.

"Run!" One of the remaining four unharmed civilians shouted, and all but one left. The remaining one stepped forward, looking at Naruto in interest. He was about 4'10" with a ponytail of black hair, pupiless green eyes, dressed in a standard chunin uniform with his hitai-ite on his right arm and had a chainwhip curled at his waist.

"Why do you protect the Ice Demon?" He asked in a calm voice.

"Because I know what it is like to have to suffer through mobs and ignorant humans, people who would kill you for something out of your control. Who would brand you evil for something they don't understand. Those of my own village labeled me a demon as well. But I left, and no one should suffer my fate." The chunin looked wide-eyed at Naruto and was about to speak, except Kurasu shot out more poisoned blades from his mouth, so the Kirin in jumped.

He performed handsigns and announced "_Suiton: Mizurappa!_" (Water Release: Violent Water Wave) and a Jetstream of water left his mouth towards Naruto who had finished his own one-handed seals "_Suiton: Suijinheki!_" (Water Release: Water Encampment Wall) the ensuing water wall that formed from the stream of water from his mouth absorbed the water from the other's jutsu. Naruto used that to his advantage and performed more handsigns quickly "_Suiton: Suiryudan!_" (Water Release: Water Dragon Missile) A dragon of water formed out of the wall and shot towards the other man.

The chunin jumped over the water dragon only to find Karasu behind him, holding him tightly in its four wooden arms and then impaled by a poisoned blade that protruded from Karasu's chest and through his own.

The Kiri chunin spat out blood before going limp. With a single handsign he learned from Konoha's Forbidden Scroll, he summoned a Kage Bunshin to seal Karasu and his newly acquired puppet into scrolls while he turned to the girl.

"Are you alright?" she nodded and thanked him.

"I-I am, thank you. I am Haku… Yuki Haku."

"Haku? That's a weird name for a girl, anyways, I'm Uzumaki Naruto." The girl laughed.

"I'm a boy." This is where Naruto gaped at Haku before recovering.

"Wow. That's a surprise, Haku-san." He nodded and then looked a bit nervous.

"Naruto-sama… could you take me with you? If I stay here, I will surely die!" Naruto was taken aback by the –sama suffix, but shook it away. Should he take Haku? **"Do it, kit! He's a Yuki! He has the Hyoton bloodline; that would be very useful against Konoha." **Naruto smiled to Haku.

"Sure. I'll take you with me. Let's just find my sensei." The Hyoton user nodded and Naruto grabbed his shoulder, disappearing in a shunshin of fire.

It only was two minutes later that Sasori found Naruto and his new companion outside of Kiri's wall. "Naruto, who is this?" The redhead asked curiously.

"Sasori-sensei! This is Haku, could he accompany us? I saved him from a mob not unlike the Fox Hunts I told you about that happened in Konoha. I even got a new body to use for a puppet, but he's all alone." Sasori was about to protest when Naruto interrupted him. "He has the Hyoton!" At this point, the redheaded S-rank criminal was taken aback. _'That could be useful…'_

"I won't teach him, you'll be the one to do that, understand? And you may not teach him the puppet arts, do I make myself clear?" Naruto nodded vigorously and grinned as Haku smiled.

"Good, then let us go forth. We have things to do."

"Hai sensei!" Naruto responded and they left, the group with an added member.

**A/N: Okay, here's the first chapter of my second story, Naruto of the Red Sands. As you can see, it'll be a Dark Naruto story. Though, the storyline will obviously change slightly with no Haku to help Zabuza. As it stands, Team Naruto is Sasori, Naruto, Haku and someone unknown. Who should the last be? It won't change who I choose, but I'm curious.**

** And do not worry! I will not stop updating The Ice Duo, I just had this idea and wanted to start it. I'll switch off my updates between the two stories.**

** As always, review and tell me what you think! I appreciate your opinion.**


	2. Chapter II

**Naruto of the Red Sands**

**Chapter II**

**A/N: Orpheus again with the next chapter of Naruto of the Red Sands. Now… time to answer some reviews!**

**Guest: Can I just point out to you that Naruto is… seven bloody years old! He's inexperienced with deceit, in need of someone his own age, and when he sees someone getting treated like he was back in Konoha, he just acted without thinking.**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately for everyone that wants a dark Naruto, I don't own Naruto.**

Sasori and Naruto stood in front of a table for puppet making the redhead always kept in a scroll, with tools laid out on a smaller table in between the two of them. Haku was right outside the room, guarding it.

Right after Kiri, Sasori had taken the two boys to one of his hideouts. This one was a two-story house with a basement in a relatively secluded field in a forest of Kawa no Kuni fifty miles froom the border with Kaze no Kuni. The two puppeteers were in the basement where Sasori was teaching Naruto the fine art of organic puppet making.

"Naruto, organic puppets are vastly different from wooden ones for a variety of reasons. First of all, being organic, they retain the use of their chakra and chakra systems, as long as there is a stimulant to that chakra, such as our chakra strings. For this reason, it is very useful to find strong people to make into puppets or ninja with kekkai genkai.

"Each puppet retains the abilities of what they had as a living person, this in itself is useful for the fact that you can use a certain technique to learn each of these techniques to the extent that the puppet originally did. And, if you have knowledge of a certain jutsu, your puppet can perform it." The blonde nodded his understanding.

"Now, understand this, what I am about to show you is _not _considered a puppet art, so teach it to any you find worthy. It is sort of like the Yamanaka clan of Konoha's mind reading technique they use to learn jutsus of other villages from dead nins. It is very simple, and you only need five strings." Naruto watched as Sasori opened the puppets mouth and send his blue strings forward.

One string went throught the mouth, each ear, and each nostril of the man he had killed back in Kiri to save Haku. "Each string must attach to the brain itself. When chakra is pushed through, it tricks the brain into a reaction of jutsu recollection, the memories of using each and every nin, tai, and genjutsu travel through the strings and into your own mind. As you can tell, it is very useful."

Naruto grinned at this. Sasori continued and handed Naruto a scalpel. "Once you've done that, you need to figure out what weapons would suit the puppet's style the best. Where to put hidden blades, where to cut open for traps, what to use this one for, who this puppet will be best against. Figure all of this out." The young blonde nodded and made five chakra strings to search the man's brain for all his skills. He found ten Suiton jutsus, the Goken taijutsu style, one low-ranked genjutsu, and a kenjutsu style of twin tantos.

When the strings retracted he thought long and hard about what to do and looked at his sensei. "I think I know what I want." Sasori smiled and handed Naruto a scroll.

"In there's quite a bit of weapons to attach to this guy. All your tools are on this table. I want you to do this one on your own, see what you can do. You already have enough skill, from maintaining Karasu's body for the time you've had him. When you're done, I want you learning to control him. We'll leave once you get his control down to one hand."

Naruto nodded and set to work, _'I will make you proud, Sasori-sensei!'_

Once Naruto got his control of Nami (Wave), which is what he named that puppet, down to only needing one hand, the trio left Kawa no Kuni to make some money, the old-fashioned way. Killing bandits and finding missing-nin.

While this happened, Naruto would go through his teachers scrolls with Haku and find things suited for the young Yuki. With Hyoton, they already knew that he had a primary affinity for Futon and Suiton, so with little Futon scrolls, Haku gained a wide arsenal of Suiton jutsus.

By the time six months had gone by since Kiri, Naruto and Haku had become the best of friends, even if Haku still referred to the blonde as 'Naruto-sama'.

With quite a bit of bandits and missing-nin under their belt, Haku's first kill, and three new puppets to Naruto's collection, everything was working out fine. Little did anyone know that a certain someone was keeping an eye on the blonde.

**Hokage Tower, a year after Naruto's disappearance**

Sarutobu Hiruzen had not had a pleasant year. After Naruto's disappearance, the village had had a celebration and because of certain drunk individuals, who were now executed, word got out to the younger generation of Naruto's jinchuriki status.

Of course, after the entire elation that Naruto was gone left, the council realized something. _The jinchuriki was gone! _Now, even if most despised the boy, Hiruzen knew that none, especially Danzo, wanted their weapon gone. Using that, he had manipulated the council into sending search parties out for him. No such luck.

So, the Sandaime Hokage had sent out Jiraiya six months ago to find any leads on him, and to only make contact if he was in danger. Today was the day the Gama Sennin was supposed to return.

A year after he left, the village was _too _quiet, his law to try and give him a normal childhood was all but useless as his generation now knew, his ninja council was stressing over needing to make sure no one else got ahold of _their _weapon, and the civilian council was calling to name him a missing-nin, even if he was never a ninja to begin with.

Looking at his paperwork that he definitely did _not _want to do, Sarutobi was about to continue when he felt a familiar prescence from the window. Without turning "Jiraiya, do you always need to use the window? Can you not just use the door, like a normal person?" Said spiky, white-haired man just laughed and stood in front of the Sandaime.

"No can do, sensei." Then he turned serious all of a sudden. "Sensei, I found the gaki." At this, Sarutobi gave his full, undivided attention. "And you're not going to believe this. He's traveling with two other people."

"Who?" the Sandaime asked curiously.

"Well… the first is of the Yuki clan. Probably the last one, if my spies are anything to go by." Sarutobi was surprised by this. "Odd thing is… the boy calls the gaki 'Naruto-sama' and it looks like the little blonde is his sensei." Sarutobi gave Jiraiya a look that said 'Are you serious? There's no way.' "That's not even the strangest thing… _his _sensei is nothing short of amazing. He's being taught the Suna art of puppetry by none other than… Sasori of the Red Sand."

The Council of Konoha was gathered fifteen minutes later, both civilian and ninja. Somehow or another… someone forgot to mention the meeting to Danzo though. He still showed up.

"Hokage-sama, what is the purpose of this meaning?" a very lazy Nara Shikaku asked through a yawn. The others quickly agreed curiously.

"As you all may know by now, one year ago, seven year old Uzumaki Naruto suddenly disappeared on October 10, now, exactly one year later, Jiraiya has given me information about him. Leads and spying have led to this conclusion. Naruto is unharmed, and currently traveling in a group of three."

"That is good news." Hyuga Hiashi said, voice without emotion.

"Very good… but?" Yamanaka Inoichi asked.

"Who's he with?" Inuzuka Tsume wondered out loud.

"Uzumaki Naruto is currently traveling with two people. The first is what very well may be the last Yuki living, who has an unlocked Hyoton, and also refers to Naruto as sama, Jiraiya's contacts have witnessed the bobeing taught Suiton and Futon jutsus from Naruto. The Yuki is assumed to be at B-rank. And he is the same age as Naruto." This brought wide eyes from the civilian council, a calculating gleam from Danzo, and of course, a look of _'I can find use of this' _from Hiashi.

"Is he loyal to Naruto then?" Akimichi Chouza asked to which Sarutobi nodded.

"And as long as Naruto is loyal to Konoha, then he should come here to the village." Shikaku noted.

"Very right you are, Shikaku." Sarutobi said. "All the more reason to bring him home. However there is the case of his other traveling partner… his sensei."

"Another ninja? Who is it?" Homura asked aloud, impatient to hear another strong ninja joining their ranks.

"Naruto has found a master puppeteer of Suna to teach him the art. A powerful ninja even without the use of them. This person is in fact a missing-nin, but from Jiraiya's information, it can be safely assumed that he holds no ill will towards, Naruto or Konoha itself. Naruto is being taught by none other than… Suna's S-ranked missing-nin for the murder of their Sandaime Kazekage, Sasori of the Red Sand." A collective gasp was heard throughout the room and murmurs began.

Only four people remained silent throughout it all. The Hokage, because he already knew this information. Danzo was plotting how to get ahold of Naruto without Sasori killing him. Shikaku was analyzing everything about the situation. Hiashi was wondering if the Yuki or even the Uzumaki could be convinced to marry his disappointment of a daughter, Hinata, so he could gain more power. All four had come to the same conclusion.

Uzumaki Naruto must be returned to Konoha at all costs. Whether willingly or by force was yet to be seen.

**Ta no Kuni (Land of Rice Fields), 18 months after Naruto's disappearance**

Two boys travelled alone down a beaten path to their destination, a small village in Ta no Kuni where they would meet their contractor for the next job. Their sensei would be here, if he wasn't wanted, so he just stayed back at the hideout.

The boy on the left was what any teenage or adult woman would define as adorable. The eight and a half year old boy was a little over four feet with messy, spiky blonde hair of the brightest shade, the brightest blue eyes anyone could have and three whisker marks on each cheek. He wore a black shirt and ANBU-style pants with ninja sandals, and a dark red ankle-length trench coat over everything. Some people said how it was 'so cute he wants to play ninja' right before he had killed his target, and then any witnessed. Currently the blonde was smiling with his hands interlaced behind his head.

The other one, the boy on the right looked to be his companions opposite in every way. Long, neatly straight black hair, big, brown eyes and an effeminate figure with his 4'5" height. He looked calm, collected, and focused. He wore a dark blue robe with his hands tucked in the sleeves. If anyone had seen inside them, they would see senbon held in each hand. They looked so opposite, yet anyone could've told you just by how relaxed they were with one another, they were the best of friends, maybe even brothers.

"Naruto-sama, what is the mission?" The black-haired boy asked in a calm, even voice.

"It's simple Haku, our contact is going to give us a scroll with details of our target, we kill him, show the contractor he's dead, and then I make the target, if he's a good ninja, into a new puppet." The blonde said in a tone that could've been halfway between joking and serious.

"Hai, Naruto-sama." Naruto smiled to his friend and just continued walking. "Naruto-sama? I'm curious, you still wish to destroy those who wronged you, correct?" Naruto nodded and muttered something like 'those konoha bastards will all burn' "Then why are we still here, and not there? Would it not be easier to learn the secrets of the village from the inside and attack from there when an opportunity presents itself?"

Haku stopped when he noticed Naruto wasn't walking next to him anymore. Turning to look behind him, he saw the blonde in the middle of the road with a look of concentration. He looked at Haku and grinned. "You're a genius Haku! Why didn't I ever think of that?"

**"Because you're an idiot?" **Hitomi commented. _'Shut it, kitsune-baka!' _

"Because you're an idiot, sometimes, Naruto-sama?" Haku put in, at which point a chibi Hitomi was doing a victory dance in Naruto's head, while the blonde face faulted.

Naruto muttered something about ungrateful ice users and idiot foxes before Haku stopped him. "I can sense a few chakra signatures coming towards us, Naruto-sama. Four, three chasing another one." **"Yes, the one in front is terrified and the three behind her are having feelings of… bastards! I swear to you, Naruto, if you don't stop those three, I won't give you any chakra for a month! They're planning on raping the one in front, I can tell she's only a girl your age!"**

Now, among the many things that he had gotten from Hitomi's influence, there is one thing above all he hates, rapists. He needed no incentives and simply turned around, waiting for them to come.

"Naruto-sama, that is the way they're coming from." Naruto sent Haku a glance that chilled even his spine.

"Hitomi-chan told me that three grown men are chasing after a girl our age… with plans of rape. You know I can't allow that, Haku." The boy nodded. He definitely knew Naruto's views on rape. Hitomi had revealed to Naruto his heritage, roughly two weeks after he had told Haku his jinchuriki status. Naruto didn't take it well.

Apparently… his mother, Uzumaki Kushina was, under order of the Yondaime Hokage, put under a genjutsu by an Uchiha that tricked her into adoration of Namikaze Minato. She was broken out of it at the Uchiha's death during the Kyuubi attack and so that he wasn't put under scrutiny, he killed her with a seal after Naruto was born. The blonde saw that genjutsu as a form of rape, and would kill any he found in the process of the act. No matter who was about to be raped, be it ally, enemy, or whatever.

Soon they came forward, and the girl passed by them, where Haku stopped her. Naruto idly noticed she had long, straight, black hair, big brown eyes, and was an inch shorter than Haku. She wore a green vest, zipped up, camo pants and a camo skirt above that as well as a camo scarf. She also had on black ninja sandals.

Each of the men that came wore a chunin uniform and a headband with a music note on it. _'These Oto nin again? They're causing all kinds of trouble.'_

The Oto nin all seemed the same to Naruto and Haku, llovers of chaos, killers, rapists, and criminals. The worst of the worst joined together under one village and led by some creepy, snake-like guy, from the memories of Naruto's two Oto puppets he'd scanned/

"Move aside, shrimp!" the middle one commanded, he was the tallest with spiked brown hair and held a kunai threateningly. Naruto simply pulled out a scroll and unsealed two puppets that he automatically grabbed with chakra strings.

His first puppet was called Seiteki and was a former missing-nin of Kumo. She was dark skinned with light green hair and brown eyes. He had her dressed in a black battle kimono with yellow trim. On each hand was a hidden blade that would come out her wrist and she had senbon launcher within her throat, letting them shoot out her mouth after Raiton chakra covered them.

The second was Nami. He had pale skin and a ponytail of black hair, pupiless green eyes and was dressed in a light blue cloak not unlike Karasu's. Under the cloak was his chunin uniform he died in with a few modifications. Nami had his chainwhip inside his arm and could be forcibly shot out his palm with a little chakra. His other palm had a kunai launcher and his limbs were littered with poisoned spikes that could be shot out of him and retracted by the set of chains that connected them to his body.

"No." Naruto said coldly and had his two puppets work. Seiteki stayed behind shooting off Raiton senbon while she worked on handseals. Nami lurched forward shooting out his chainwhip and grabbing one of the chunin, before launching a kunai through his throat.

That's when Seiteki finished "_Raiton: Gian_" (Lightning Release: False Darkness) Lightning shot off in a set of eight spears towards the green haired man, striking him through. The last man looked on as his two companions died so easily to an eight year old boy. Naruto pulled his puppets back and then set them to performing two jutsus. The man couldn't run fast enough to avoid either one. "_Suiton: Mizurappa. Raiton: Gian._" (Water Release: Violent Water Wave; Lightning Release: False Darkness) a stream of water and a straight line of electricity mixed together and struck the third would-be rapist in the back, bursting him into flames and stopping his heart simultaneously.

"I hate rapists." Naruto said simply. The girl looked on at the scene amazed and was in front of Naruto as soon as he turned around.

"What's your name?" she asked right off the bat.

"It's polite to say your own first." He said with a smile. She blushed slightly but shook out of it.

"I'm Kin, Tsuchi Kin." Naruto told her his name and then was subject to an interrogation session. "How are you so strong?" Naruto sealed his puppets.

"Lots of practice and experience."

"Could you teach me how to do that." A simple shake of the head was her answer. "Why not?"

"Because I promised my sensei I wouldn't teach anyone but my chosen successor the art of puppetry." She pouted, but then grinned.

"Can I come with you?" Naruto and Haku looked at her and Haku stepped in here.

"I am sorry, Kin-san, but we are on an important mission, and a civilian would just-"

"I am _not _a civilian." Naruto and Haku stared at her. "Okay, I'm not a ninja, yet. But I know some genjutsu, and I have high chakra levels for my age." _'Hitomi-chan?' _**"Telling the truth kit. She's got… I'd say chunin level chakra control for her high genin reserves. Plus… neither of you two use any genjutsu. And you are in need of a third member of your team for your plan."**

Naruto shrugged. "I think she should come. We'll test you on the mission, kay Kin?" she nodded. "And if you're any good, I have some genjutsu scrolls for you." She grinned.

"Oh, I'll do more than good, Naruto-kun. I'll do great!" The two boys swore they saw an evil glint in her eyes, they had no idea what they had gotten themselves into, or how sadistic their new teammate truly could be to those under her power.

**A/N: Chapter two finished. Sorry if its not too well written. It's just a filler chapter for until the next chapter and to show Konoha's reaction to Jiraiya's news. Next chapter: Team Naruto's target, another timeskip, and phase 1 of Naruto's grand plan is complete!**


	3. Chapter III

**Naruto of the Red Sands**

**Chapter III**

**A/N: Hello all, welcome, to the wonder that is Naruto of the Red Sands.**

**Firstly, I don't know why, but everyone keeps thinking I'm going to bring Naruto back to Konoha. I will only say this once, Naruto is **_**not **_**going to Konoha. Period. So… STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT HIM GOING BACK TO THE LEAF!**

**And as for the guy that started cussing me out on a comment for simply writing this story, you don't have to read if you don't want. Just shut up, baka.**

**Anyways… here's the chapter.**

Two days ago Naruto, Haku, and Kin had sat in a small café at a table with their contractor. He was a small man, at the same height as nine year old Haku. He had greasy black hair, bright green eyes, and wore a black business suit. The man's name was Torin, and was a representative of the business tycoon, Gato. The mission was simple actually, travel to Nami no Kuni, and put down the resistance that were trying to go against his rule.

They were payed the equivalent of an A-rank mission in a hidden village. Easy pay to just take out some upstart civilians and maybe a few ninja they may have hired. Naruto easily accepted the mission and the team headed out. Currently, they were on a ferry to get to their objective.

"Naruto-sama, what should we do when we get there?" Haku asked the blonde. They could freely talk about anything, Kin had cast a genjutsu on the captain that made him think they were talking to him about something else.

"Well, first we need a place to stay. So Kin, you find us an inn and cast a genjutsu to make the owner think we payed him, and Haku, you will remain Henged into an adult, acting as Kin's and my guardian. Then, we split up and search for the resistance. Any means necessary. Understand?" The two nodded. "Good, when we find them, it's simply a matter of waiting for their next meeting, and slaughtering the lot of them. As for the leader… well… he gets special treatment. A public execution to make everyone break."

"Alright… let's do this." Kin gave a sadistic grin as they landed on the docks, ready to cause pain.

(Location: Marketplace)

Haku walked around the market, henged in the form of a tall man with short, black hair, green eyes, and dressed in a black shirt and pants with worker's boots on his feet. His plan was simple, learn rumors of the land.

So he was buying things from people and talking to them. So far, he had learned a couple of things.

The first was that everyone hated Gato's thugs, and the civilians and hired bandits commonly fought, and sometimes people on either side would die from injuries in the brawls men had. Their situation was pretty hopeless, even if they didn't know they were doomed yet. _'Naruto-sama will definitely want to get out of here quickly. There's no one strong enough to be his puppet here.'_

The second thing he learned was that the resistance was spread out, though that was from eavesdropping by running chakra to his ears. Apparently some fisherman was the leader.

The final thing he learned was pretty interesting. The resistance had hired a team of ninja from Konoha. _'Naruto-sama will enjoy hearing that. He always says how he would love to add Konoha nin to his collection.'_

(Location: Docks)

Kin was having absolute fun. People had always called her a sadist, they were wrong. She was a born interrogator. That's why she stole genjutsu scrolls from ninja that slept in any of the inns she had keys to.

Right now she had a sound proof genjutsu and one that made people's eyes pass over her and her victim cast right now. He was a burly sailor that shouldn't have had a problem with a little girl. If only he knew that she could cast a paralysis genjutsu.

"Where is the resistance's location?" the man spit at her. She grinned and took out a senbon, stabbing him in a nerve ending in between two bones in his index finger, severing the tendon there and causing massive pain to him.

Needless to say, he screamed. "Screw you!" Kin laughed maniacally at his defiance.

"The funnest ones are those I have to break." Before she was killed, Kin's mother, a former T&I nin of Kumo, had taught her many methods using live shows and letting Kin gain experience with it.

Kin grabbed another needle and slipped it through the space between his upper arm and elbow, another strong nerve ending for pain. He didn't scream, resolving to stay silent. Kin's eyes gleamed dangerously as she pushed another needle through his 17th and 18th vertebrae. This time he screamed. He screamed so loud that Kin was practically giddy and also glad she had that sound-proof genjutsu up.

"Stop!" he begged. "D-don't… n-no more! I'll tell you! J-just don't d-do anything more!" Tears were falling down his face.

"You broke that easily? I thought you were tough." She pouted. "Fine, tell me."

"Th-they'll meet ton-tonight out-outside the City Hall once th-the L-Leaf nin get here." Kin nodded.

"Thanks." She said right before a kunai was lodged in his throat. She left and the genjutsu would release when she was back to inn.

(Location: Road to the Inn)

Naruto was not happy. He had been out all day and found nothing. _'I hope that the others got a lead.'_

Naruto went in the Inn and upstairs into the room they shared, to find a grinning Kin, and a smiling Haku. "I hope you two found something, otherwise, I'm going to hurt someone."

Kin smiled at Naruto. "Ooh, that is sooo attractive, Naruto-kun." She teased. "Girls just love sadists."

"Ironic that you say that, Kin-san." Haku pointed out.

"Shut it, Ice-san." She growled.

"Both of you, quiet! Tell me, what did you learn?"

Haku spoke up first. "Naruto-sama, the resistance constantly fights the bandits hired by Gato and they are led by a fisherman." Haku stated. "And… Naruto-sama, they are going to hire Konoha nin." The blonde grinned evilly at this.

"My info is even better, Naruto-kun! I found out that the Konoha nin are arriving tonight and the resistance will there tonight to launch an attack on Gato!" At this point, Naruto's face was practically split in half with a grin.

"Oh, this is perfect. Come on." He turned around and opened the door, talking without looking back. "We have time to prepare a counterattack and kill two birds with one stone."

(Location: City Hall, 2:00 AM)

The resistance was battle-ready, all stationed around the City Hall in the shadows as their leader, Kaiza, was conversing with the team of four shinobi that had been hired and brought back by him.

Kaiza was tall and tan, from days spent at sea. His muscles were lean froom the fishing pole he constantly used and from working on a boat all day. He had spiked, dark brown hair and brown eyes. Around his forehead was a piece of rope tied in a knot and he had a pair of knuckledusters at his waist, ready to be put on at a moment's notice.

All of the Konoha shinobi were chunin. Three men and one kunoichi.

The first had the looks of a Nara. Spiky black hair, black eyes, and a posture of laziness, while still an analytical gaze that took every detail in. He wore a chunin vest over a black shirt and had on ANBU-style pants.

The second was a clanless nobody, in all likelihood. Green hair and grey eyes, half a foot taller than Naruto, in a fishnet shirt over a blue one, grey pants and wore a tanto at his side.

The third man was from one of the minor clans, the Fenikkusu clan. They had an ungodly affinity for Katon that allowed them to use any C-rank to mid-B rank Katon jutsus without handsigns. He had bright orange, long hair in a pineapple-like ponytail (think Shikamaru), crimson eyes, and wore a red shirt and black pants.

The kunoichi was blue-haired, and had pupilless brown eyes. She wore a tight-fitted black jumpsuit that hugged all her curves and had a kusarigama at her waist.

Hidden at three points in the shadows were Naruto, Haku and Kin.

"Welcome Konoha shinobi." Kaiza greeted with a smile. "I am Kaiza. In case you weren't told. I hired you to aid us in this battle we will have tonight. We are planning on taking out the tyrant who is trying to suppress our people, and we recquire your assistance."

The Nara nodded lazily. "Yeah, we know. We'll help you Kaiza."

Kaiza smiled. "Thank you-" he stopped talking as snow fell from the sky. "That's strange, it never snows this time of the year." The shinobi were automatically on guard.

Suddenly a rain of needles came from above from two sides and either found places in people or in the ground. Whoever survived that looked up to a strange sight. Two floating people and a wooden figure. On the roof of the building was a single blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy. Atop the Karasu's shoulders sat Kin and atop Nami's shoulders was Haku.

The third puppet was a dark-skinned woman obviously originally from Rai no Kuni with her hitai-ite on his forehead. She had shoulder-length silver hair and cloud grey eyes. Naruto had her dressed in a tight black shirt, ANBU pants and a white trench coat. Each nail was covered in a steel blade coated in nerve-poison and her chest housed a chakra-powered poison gas generator that escaped out her mouth. Her elbows had daggers protruding three-inches out as well as her knees. He had called her Raikiri.

Haku performed handsigns and a hundred senbon of needles were created behind him out of water. "_Suiton: Mizu Senbon!_" (Water Release: Water Needles) Every one of them shot forward simultaneously, killing twenty more of the resistance.

"Who the hell are these guys?" the blue-haired kunoichi demanded. Kaiza looked shocked and shook his head.

Kin threw more senbon, which most easily dodged. "Thanks for dodging, bakas!" She exclaimed, and the sound of bells permeated the area. Everyone besides the shinobi and Kaiza, too far from the bells, fell to their knees and fell unconscious, their ears bleeding.

"A genjutsu!" the Nara exclaimed. "Fill your ears with chakra to block off all sound!" The four shinobi did so and jumped to the middle of the area as Haku jumped down and the two organic puppets followed him.

Kin stayed up above, fuming. "What the hell am I supposed to do now! My senbon are useless!" Naruto smirked at her.

"Your genjutsus have proven useful. Think of another." Then he looked down to the battlefield and focused on his two organic puppets as Kin hopped onto Naruto's roof and Karasu dashed to the ground. It was a four-on-four match.

Haku smiled at them. "Hello, all. I am Yuki Haku, and though I have no problem with most people, you are Konoha shinobi, and Naruto-sama hates your lot."

The kunoichi gasped. "Uzumaki Naruto? Kuroyami," the Nara looked at her. "isn't that…?"

"Yes, Raimei. Kashin!" The shinobi of the Fenikkusu clan looked at him. "Koutetsu!" the man with the tanto looked at him. "You take the organic puppets. I'll take on the boy."

"Hai, Kuroyami!" With that, they split up.

(With Haku and Kuroyami)

"Hello, Nara-san." Haku said politely. "I must warn you, Naruto-sama has a way around your Kagemane." Kuroyami's eyes widened…"

"That is not possible." The Nara argued. Haku shrugged.

"Whatever. I will defeat you so that my master can at last have a Nara in his collection. He counts Konoha's clans as prizes and wishes to add them to his puppetry scrolls." Kuroyami gaped at the pale boy and then threw a shuriken "_Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!_" (Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique) One became thirty and Haku smirked, finishing his own seals. "_Hyoton: Hyohariheki!_" (Ice Release: Ice Crystal Wall) The snow that had fallen earlier froze and formed into a large wall to protect Haku and the shuriken embedded themselves.

Haku jumped over the wall, senbon in hand, launching them at the Nara as he finished his own handseals. "_Kageheki no Jutsu!_" (Shadow Wall Technique) His shadow expanded and became a large wall to block the senbon. Haku was then behind Kuroyami with a kunai in hand, swinging for him. Kuroyami pulled out a kunai of his own, to parry the strike.

Haku went through one-handed seals "_Futon: Daitoppa_" (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough) He shot a large gale of wind from his mouth to blow the man back a few feet.

Kuroyami smiled. "Let's dance."

(With Nami and Koutetsu)

No words were spoken (as if a puppet could talk!) as the fight begun. Nami went forward and shot out a kunai, which he caught, and attempted to slice open Koutetsu's throat. The Konoha shinobi blocked it with his own kunai and then jumped back.

Dropping the kunai, Nami blurred through handseals. "_Suiton: Mizurappa!_" It clicked out through its wooden mouth and shot a burst of water at Koutetsu, who jumped over it. At this point, Nami's chainwhip shot out of its right palm and wrapped around the man's ankle, slamming him into the ground before it retracted back, pulling Koutetsu with it, right into Nami's fist as the whip unfurled from his ankle, sending Koutetsu barreling backwards into a wall.

When he got up, he spit out some blood and smiled. "Oh, this is going to be good."

(With Karasu and Raimei)

Karasu's mouth clicked as he barreled towards the kunoichi, each arm had a hidden blade out of its palm, swinging poisoned blades at her. Her reflexes were quick and parried them with kunai before she jumped back and took out her kusarigama, spinning the sickle by its chain as lightning sparked along the chain up to the sickle. "_Raitou_." (Lightning Sickle)

Karasu opened its mouth and a salvo of poisoned blades shoot out. Raimei blocks them by spinning her kusarigama just right to hit every one of them. Jumping, she slashes downwards which Kurasu went to the side to avoid. Raimei pulled her weapon back, holding her sickle tightly, she threw the weight end of her kusarigma, wrapping around Kurasu's arm and pulling the puppet forward. She dodged the next salvo of poisoned blades and went for an ax kick to its head.

"I won't lose to a doll!"

(With Raikiri and Kashin)

"_Katon: Housenka no Jutsu._" (Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Flower Technique) Several fireballs left Kashin's mouth. Raikiri did a quick set of handseals. "_Raiton: Gian_" (Lightning Release: False Darkness) Spears of lightning intercepted each fireball, causing explosions each time they collided.

Kashin grinned. "_Katon: Endan!_" (Fire Release: Fireball) A jet of fire was released from Kashin's mouth and Raikiri responded with a "_Raiton: Gian_" (Lightning Release: False Darkness) A concentrated beam of lightning came out of Raikiri's mouth and the fire and lightning battled for dominance as the two continued the assault.

(With Nami and Koutetsu)

"_Suiton: Daibakufu._" (Water Release: Great Waterfall) The water from the nearby sea wose up to swirl around Nami, and then crashed down as a waterfall onto Koutetsu, who was still hit on the side as he jumped to the left.

The Kiri puppet then rushed after the Konoha nin, shooting poisoned kunai from his left palm. Koutetsu growled and pulled out his tanto, deflecting each one. Two more kunai came out, caught by either if Nami's hands and a kenjutsu battle ensued.

Nami slashed horizontally high and low, which Koutetsu blocked by turning his blade vertical with the handle on top. The Koutetsu slashed diagonally with enough force to make Nami need to block by crossing his kunai in a X-formation. The two swung and blocked, dodged and parried for a bit.

Finally Koutetsu got the upper hand, swinging his blade and enhancing it with chakra enough to actually _split _one of Nami's kunai. The puppet leapt back and as Koutetsu was about to rush after it, someone crashed into his back, Koruyami.

(With Haku and Koruyami, earlier)

Senbon and shuriken flew on the field, negating each other quickly, all the while the two combatants used one-handed seals. "_Suiton: Mizu Kamikiri._" (Water Release: Rising Water Cutter) "_Kami Kagekiri_" (Divine Shadowblade) Two blades rushed at each other, one of water and one of shadows, both protruding out of the ground. When they hit, the chakra and wills of the two nin were put to the test.

Ice and shadow cut into each other, creating shards of cold and darkness that flew everywhere. Just when one looked to be winning, the other would come back and gain the edge. Until a few moments later, when Kuruyami destroyed the ice blade and Haku was torn up.

Only to shatter in many icicles!

Koruyami turned right into the flying kick to the face the real Haku sent, and ran right into Koutetsu, causing them both to fall to the floor.

Haku leapt after them, standing before them as he flashed through handseals. "_Hyoton Hijutsu: Makyou Hyoushou_" (Ice Release Hidden Technique: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals) 13 mirrors soon were created around the two, seven on bottom, five above those, and one at the top, completely surrounding Koruyami and Koutetsu.

Haku stepped into one of the mirrors, causing them all to show his reflection. "This is one of my clan's ultimate jutsus, there is no escaping." Suddenly senbon were lodged in Koruyami's shoulder, arms, and his gut. A moment later, Koutetsu had needles sticking out from his neck, back, and legs.

"I don't even see him move!" Koutetsu exclaimed.

"The mirrors! Koutetsu!" He nodded and flashed through handseals, only for senbon to strike pressure points in his hands, locking them into the ram seal.

"I-I can't move my fingers!" He shouted. "The boy's senbons made them immobile!"

"Kuroyami attempted to help him, only to lose functionality of his legs when twenty senbon lodged into his spine and he fell, two feet from his companion.

"_Suiton: Sensatsu Suisho_" (Water Releaase: Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death) they heard. A thousand needles materialized around the two, and rushed forward, half in one man, half in the other, killing them mercilessly.

Haku stepped out his mirrors, stopped the jutsu, and sealed the bodies.

(With Karasu and Raimei)

Raimei had made sure to stay out of the sick puppet's range and injure him with her sickle blade. But she was tiring quickly. "_Raiton: Gian_" (Lightning Release: False Darkness)

She shot out twenty lightning spears at the wooden monstrosity, which it easily dodged left and right.

Raising its four arms, each one shot out poisoned blades at her, which she dodged by jumping over. As soon as she hit the ground, it was behind her, ready to grab her, but she rolled under its legs and hit it with the weight on her kusarigama.

Its back chipped a little and as it turned around, she saw a small black ball shoot out of its chest. It went off to form a purple smoke cloud and she jumped out of it. As soon as she did, she began coughing. _'Damn! Must've inhaled some.'_

She moved her hand to swing the chain, and pain hit her. Pushing past the nerve gas' effect, she swung the sickle at her opponent, wrapping the chain around its neck and head, covering Karasu's mouth. The puppet grabbed onto the chain with two hands and pulled, so Raimei quickly let go.

Each of the four hands brought their hidden blades out and touched the chain around Karasu's head, the poison corroding the chain in four places, and then dropping to the ground. Karasu lunged forward to strike at Raimei and she jumped to its head, then used it to leap away, all the while flashing handseals. "_Raiton: Seiteki Harou no Jutsu_" (Lightning Release: Static Surge Technique) She pointed her index and middle finger of her right hand at Karasu, and a concentrated beam of Raiton energy shot towards the puppet.

Karasu lurched to the right quickly, dodging the catastrophic blast and Reimei fell to her knees, the poison's effect of extreme pain too much for her. Karasu lunged forward, and stabbed through her heart easily. Haku showed up soon, and sealed the body into a scroll after watching the fight end.

(With Raikiri and Kashin)

"_Katon: Karyu Endan!_" (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bomb) Kashin shot forth a jet of fire as Raikiri used "_Raiton: Rairyu no Kokyuu_" (Lightning Release: Lightning Dragon's Breath) and a large jet of lightning left her mouth. The two collided and proceeded to battle for dominance with each other.

Sparks of electricity danced with fiery embers as the blast that would consume the user ensued. All the while, both were shooting off shuriken at each other, negating the other's salvo. Kashin suddenly performed a Kawarimi with a nearby corpse, and appeared off to the side.

The now overpowered Karyu Endan was consumed by the lightning attack and it surged forward, causing the earth it hit to explode into an enormous crater.

"_Katon: Karyudan!_" (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet) A dragon of fire surged for the puppet, who kawarimied with a corpse behind Kashin and tried to sweep kick him. Kashin deftly backflipped over Raikiri.

Kashin's fists became enveloped in Katon chakra, making them look on fire, and went to jab Raikiri in the throat, only for her to parry to the blow and aim a heavy punch for Kashin's gut. The Fenikkusu clan member jumped back and used a "_Katon: Gokakyuu!_" (Fire Release: Great Fireball) at Raikiri, who simply kawarimied with another corpse.

Dashing forward in a burst of chakra, Kashin launched a flaming punch for Raikiri's chest, which landed. Raikiri then proceeded to rake her steel nails against Kashin's back, then stabbed them into his heart and lung with one hand, and his liver, with the other. Kashin dropped dead and was sealed by Haku.

Naruto and Kin jumped down to Haku, who handed Naruto the scroll. Naruto sealed his puppets as well. Kaiza looked ready to run from them, but didn't. At a signal from Naruto, Haku put him into a coma-like state with two senbon to the neck and turned to his team.

"Just one thing left to do." Naruto said as he sealed Kaiza into a stasis scroll, keeping him alive.

(Location: Market, middle of the day)

"Attention all Nami citizens!" Naruto, henged as the Nara from before, shouted. They looked up and saw three Konoha shinobi, everyone's hopes were up. "I bring news of Gato and the Resistance's fight of last night!"

At this point they were all high on excitement. "We, the Konoha shinobi have just about finished our job, with just one target left to kill." On the inside, Naruto was grinning. "And so," he pulled out the scroll, "in this scroll is the leader of our employer's opponent, who we will execute now." They all cheered as, in a puff of smoke, the scroll was unsealed. There, on his knees was…

"Kaiza!" One screamed. Now the three Konoha shinobi were grinning like mad.

With a the tanto he had gotten from Koutetsu last night, Kaiza was soon decapitated. "Remember this well, Konoha nin will gladly abandon anyone, if the opponent has enough money." With that, the three shunshined out of town. A town now filled with despair, depression, and one little boy who now stood looking at his stepfather with any hope in his heart completely gone.

(Location: Gato's HQ)

"Is it done?" the fat little CEO of Gato Corporation asked.

"Of course, Gato-san." Naruto replied. "Every resistance member is dead, the Konoha shinobi are sealed in my scroll, and the leader, Kaiza was publicly executed a few minutes ago by 'Konoha shinobi'. They won't run to the Leaf Village to get help anytime soon." Gato grinned at this.

"Above my expectations. Here you are." He threw a briefcase with money that Naruto gave to Haku, who went through it, counting.

"Of course, Gato-san. We strive to be the best." Haku nodded to Naruto. "We will be on our way then, Gato-san. We look forward to any future business." The short man grunted as they left in clouds of smoke.

"Best ryo I ever spent." He commented to himself

(Location: Ferry to Hi no Kuni)

Another genjutsu and the ferryman didn't notice the three young shinobi among his other customers. "Great job, team. The mission was a complete success, Sasori-sensei will be happy."

Haku nodded, but Kin fidgeted. "Uh… Naruto-kun?" He looked at the black-haired girl. "W-what about me?" Naruto smiled warmly at her.

"I said good job _team_ didn't I?" She looked at him and then grinned, hugging him tightly

"Thank you!" And with that, Team Naruto got its final member and NAruto got his second student.

**A/N: Kin is on Team Naruto! Don't fret, next chapter, Team Naruto become the genin team of a certain village. NOT KONOHA! So don't even put that in the comments, understand?**

**Also, this Koutetsu is not the same as the Konoha gate guard Kotetsu.**

** Anyways, tell me how I did on this chapter.**

** Until next time, Orpheus out!**


	4. Chapter IV

**Naruto of the Red Sands**

**Chapter IV**

**A/N: Here's Chapter IV of Naruto of the Red Sands, now… review time!**

**Death of the Demon: I won't be abandoning this anytime soon, believe me.**

**Peter Kim: Are you psychic? Stop telling my secrets!**

**Guest: I never planned to have him a Konoha nin, just to show how much Konoha wanted him back to set up the reason why they would join a village.**

"Why is it you seem to pick up strays wherever you are, Naruto?" Sasori asked curiously as he looked at the boy's newest friend.

It had been five minutes since they arrived, and the first thing Naruto's redheaded sensei wanted to know was who the black haired girl was. "It's not like, Sasori-sensei!" Naruto complained. "Plus, she was really useful on the mission. Do you know how hard it is for me to use a genjutsu without pulling a puppet out? And Haku is too busy studying medical stuff for his senbon and medical jutsu to worry about it, even if he has perfect chakra control. Kin's already got control _and _experience. She's only nine and already knows almost a dozen genjutsu!"

Sasori thought about this, then asked something else. "Your luck is absolutely amazing, Naruto. How is it that you are a prodigy yourself, and find two others by chance? Regardless, same rules apply to her as Haku. I won't teach them, and you can't give away any puppet arts, besides the ones we agreed on. Understand?" Naruto nodded, grinning.

"You're the best, Sasori-sensei!" The redhead nodded and then shooed the three away, needing to work on a new body he got for a puppet, a former Kiri nin with some sort of spider-like abilities. Too bad the boy's brother got away…

(Location: Sasori's hideout, two weeks later)

"Alright, brats!" Sasori said, getting the attention of Naruto, Haku, and Kin. "Listen up! We've got a problem here. One of my spies said that the council of Konoha has sent out search parties for Naruto, with orders to capture him, and anyone with him."

"What? Can't I just be in peace?" He asked with a scowl. "First, they all hate me and want me dead, now I have to go back?" The blonde shook his head.

"Remember, Naruto, they still see you as a weapon. A tool. A puppet to be used. Ironic, seeing as how you use puppets now, but we have bigger worries." They all listened to the senior puppet master.

"We need protection, and we need a home. So I've decided on a course of action for us that is a tad risky."

"How so, Sasori-san?" Haku asked.

"I am going to create a new puppet as a disguise, so no one will recognize me, and I will put my consciousness inside it. That is easy enough to do, and not the risky part though." He paused for emphasis. "We are going to visit my old village, and stay there until the Konoha threat passes."

"Suna?" Naruto asked. "Are you sure nobody will recognize you, Sensei?" The boy asked, worried over his teacher's safety.

Sasori smiled to his student. "I will be fine, Naruto. The only problem is, I will need a new body to use. And all of my puppets are currently changed for battle. So that is my mission for you three. I need you to go hunting for a body for me, and preferably one with a bloodline. Okay?" The three nodded and disappeared via shunshin, heading out to hunt for a body for their master.

(Location: Outside Sasori's hideout, north road)

They began their walk in silence, before Kin spoke up. "Where should we start looking?" she looked directly at Naruto, knowing he made most, if not all, of their decisions.

"Alright team, I would've said Kiri a while back, but all of their bloodline holders are either dead, captured, or in hiding for the resistance. I would probably be killed on sight within Iwa, and Kumo is the most militaristic of all the Hidden Villages. Suna is out of the question, with us needing asylum there very soon. That leaves but one option, no matter how little I want to go there."

Haku gulped, while Kin was wide-eyed. "Konoha." They said simultaneously.

"Right." Naruto said with no small amount of anger, sadness, and hatred in his voice. "We could probably get one of the Hyuuga or the last Uchiha, but I don't like our chances at accomplishing that. The other major clans, Yamanaka, Nara, Aburame, and Inuzuka, don't have bloodlines, just clan secrets. I know of three minor clans we could go after, though. The Fenikkusu clan that has an affinity of fire the same was the Nidaime Hokage had an affinity for water, the Kurama clan that has a genjutsu bloodline, allowing pain from genjutsu to become real, and lastly, the Hebi clan, known for its altered anatomy allowing the members to be resistant to most toxins and poisons, and even create them and breathe them out as a mist or a fog, known as the Dokuton (Poison Release).

"The Kurama clan is a no, since when does Sasori use genjutsu?" Haku nodded. "And don't you already have a Fenikkusu puppet?" Naruto shrugged, though the plan was made. Sasori's new body would be that of one of the Hebi clan.

(Location: Konoha Gates)

The trio of children made their way along the road towards the South gate. Kin already had an invisibility genjutsu up, and Naruto had a mobile Sound Barrier seal activated, one of his own design, while they walked towards the Eternal Chuunin. Izumo and Kotetsu were standing guard at the gate, if you could call it that.

The pair was simply in the guard house, playing a game of cards. Naruto sighed. "We could kill them right now, you know." He told his two friends. "But neither would make good puppets. No bloodline, no special skills, nothing."

"Let's just finish the mission, Naruto-sama. If you get too angry, the Kyuubi's chakra may leak out." **"He's right kit, calm yourself." **Hitomi intoned, trying to keep her container froom lashing out at the Konoha nin.

"If we weren't on such an important mission, I would help you, Naruto-kun. Torturing anyone who tried to kill you would make it that much better, but I have to agree with Haku-chan." Cue Haku's denial of being a girl. "We have to get in and out as fast as possible. I may be good at genjutsu… but with a whole clan of Hyuuga, the genjutsu mistress of Konoha, and another clan that specializes in genjutsu, how am I supposed to compete?"

Naruto finally resigned himself and nodded. "Alright, you guys are right. I'll stay calm. Let's just find the Hebi compound and take one of the people that have already activated their Dokuton." Naruto's team nodded and they walked through the gate, the Eternal Gate Guards none the wiser to what was about to happen.

(Location: Southeastern Konoha, Hebi Clan Compound)

Hebi Shinko was hunched over in his personal training ground. The pale teenager of 16 had straight, greasy, jet-black hair, dark brown eyes, and stood almost 6 feet tall. The young man wore black, ANBU-style pants, a loose white shirt, a chunin vest with six scrolls, one in each of the pockets, and an ankle-length trench of the darkest purple.

He had been training all day, just as he did in between every mission. He was the clan heir, after all, and had to be the strongest of his clan one day. He wasn't a prodigy, not like the Hyuuga, Uchiha, and Kurama clans had, but Shinko had unlocked his Dokuton at the age of ten, and mastered most of the clan's Dokuton jutsus, even being able to make different types of poison. Although no genius, he was pretty damn close.

Which is why he felt that he might have been in trouble when he felt three unusual chakra signatures surround his training ground. When three children, none older than nine or ten, showed up in a triangle formation around him, he wanted to laugh. Until he recognized the blonde one.

"U-Uzumaki Naruto?" The Hebi heir said in surprise. Naruto simply smiled.

"Why yes, Hebi-san." He replied. "Surprised to see me? That's good. You see… over the last two years you know what I've found out? Many things. One such thing is the truth of the Kyuubi. Pretty interesting, at that, you know. Even more interesting is just how much I could hate something."

Shinko could feel the chakra emanating from the young boy and off his companions. How could he not? In addition to his clan's bloodline, he had somehow unlocked sensor abilities. He needed to stall for time. At full strength he might've been a match for the other two, based on their chakra levels and control; the jinchuuriki was another matter altogether.

"And what is it you hate so much?" Shinko asked, not being able to hide his nervousness.

The boy took out a scroll and spoke a single word. "Konoha." Naruto unsealed the scroll and out popped two puppets.

The first was Nami and the other Raikiri. Then unsealing a second scroll and out came two new puppets Naruto had wanted to test.

The first of the new pair was obviously a well-endowed female. Tight black pants and a loose white shirt only served to accentuate her tall, curvaceous figure. The woman had curled, crimson red hair to her shoulders and bright green eyes with flecks of black within them. The sign of a stage one Kurogan (Dark Eye) of the Yabun clan, which enabled the user to use a variety of genjutsus that involved darkness, gave the ability to manipulate shadows better than a Nara, and also allowed for perfect Night Vision. She was equipped with a senbon launcher in her mouth and scythe blades that started at her wrist and back along her arms to her shoulder. This one was simply known as Kage.

The second was a tad shorter than the first, with spiked snow white hair and the masculine build of a veteran ninja. He had pupiless light red eyes that were almost pink and wore a long black cloak that only left his hands, feet, and face open. This one had tubes in his arms that would release vibrations in the air (just like Zaku, yes) as his only alteration. Not that he needed anything else. Yuri was one of the few living (before Naruto got to him) with the Ototon (Sound Release), allowing him to combine Futon and Raiton in order to create vibrations in the air, thus making sound-based jutsu.

Naruto had gotten to a point in his training where he only needed two fingers per puppet, allowing him to control four at once. The Hebi clan heir backed away, seeing the young puppeteer prodigy's skill. "So the Council was right… you are training to be a puppet master…" Shinko muttered.

"Right. And… much as I want you as a puppet, Sensei has greater need of you." The Hebi stood stiff at this fact. _'Sasori sent him to get me? That can't be good.'_

"Kin, I need an invisibilty and sound-proof genjutsu in a fifty foot radius. Haku, stand guard and freeze anyone who tries to comes close." Naruto's two companions nodded and complied: Kin made her genjutsu and Haku disappeared in an ice shunshin. "As for you… I don't even know my opponents name."

"Shinko… Hebi Shinko, just to warn you, I'm clan heir. If I go missing, people will know." Naruto shrugged.

"Minor clan, minor problem." Naruto spoke emotionlessly. "I'm the heir to three clans, but no one's been killing themselves looking for me. Too bad, I could really use some more Konoha puppets."

"T-three clans?"

"Uzumaki of Uzushigakure, Namikaze of Konoha, and once Tsunade dies, Senju of Konoha." Naruto grinned at Shinko's reaction. "Yet all anyone sees when they look at me is the Kyuubi brat. Funny, I think." Naruto shrugged and then smiled.

"Fight." He said coldly and sent his four puppets in at once. Shinko barely had time to draw two kunai as he parried Kage's arm blade, dodged Nami's chainwhip, and jumped over the other two puppets.

"_Ototon: Nami no Banshee." _(Sound Release: Banshee Wave) Yuri opened his mouth and a great wave of sound waves was let loose. Shinko dodged to the left, and saw as the technique shattered a training dummy into splinters upon contact.

_"Dokuton: Sansou!" _(Poison Release: Acid Stream) Shinko let loose a jet of acid from his mouth. Nami's chainwhip melted halfway through its length before Naruto detached it using chakra and sighed.

"I really liked that weapon too." Shaking his head, the blonde twitched his fingers, letting Raikiri and Yuri retreat to the back as Nami and Kage shot projectiles: Nami shot kunai from his left palm while Kage let loose a stream of needles from her mouth.

Shinko shot through seals _"Dokuton: Sanjinheki!" _(Poison Release: Acid Encampment Wall) From the heir's mouth came a stream of purple acid that rose as a wave, closely resembling a _Suiton: Suijinheki _that melted all the metallic projectiles.

Naruto nodded. "Yes, you will do nicely for Sasori-Sensei." Shinko understood the meaning behind the words. _'He was just testing me!' _"Kin, pull out my third scroll." Naruto's female companion pulled out a scroll she was given before and unsealed it. From one of Naruto's thumbs came a deep purple chakra string.

_"Enshoku Hijutsu: Ishiki Kujo." _(Orange Secret Technique: Sense Extermination) Raising his right hand, the one that controlled Karasu, Kage, and Yuri, Naruto had them move in on Shinko. _"Kurogan Genjutsu: Kansei Kurayami." _(Dark Eye Illusion Technique: Complete Darkness) Shinko's sight completely became nonexistent as he turned blind because of Kage's Doujutsu. _"Ototon: Nanchou no Otonami." _(Sound Release: Deafness Soundwave.) Yuri release a concentrated stream of vibration from the tubes on his arms towards Shinku's head, temporarily getting rid of his sense of hearing.

Naruto grinned as he sent out his wooden puppet, devoid of any chakra, keeping any sensors from figuring his location out. Four hidden blades popped out of its palms with a barely audible _click _before they found their destinations. One through each lung, another through the heart, and the final through his liver.

Shinko was dead instantly. Naruto sealed his puppets quickly and then sealed his sensei's new body as Haku was back at his side and Kin dropped the wide-range genjutsu for a more inconspicuous one that stayed around each member of the trio. With their mission complete, they left Konoha back for Sasori's hideout. Out of Konoha for their new home in Suna.

Naruto smiled at that prospect. _'Soon, very soon, I'll have my revenge. Wait for that day, Konoha, because I don't have the patience to.'_

_Original Jutsu_

_Ototon: Nami no Banshee (Sound Release: Banshee Soundwave) Releases vibrations from the users mouth and throat that travel at the speed of sound with enough force to shatter wood and crack stone._

_Dokuton: Sansou (Poison Release: Acid Stream) Releases a stream of green acid that can melt through steel._

_Dokuton: Sanjinheki (Poison Release: Acid Encampment Wall) Inspired by Suiton: Suijinheki, this technique creates a stationary wave of purple acid to protect the user with enough power to disintegrate senbon, shuriken, and kunai before they leave the wall._

_Enshoku Hijutsu: Ishiki Kujo (Orange Secret Technique: Sense Extermination) A combination technique between Naruto's puppets Kage, Yuri, and Kurasu. First Kage will blind the opponent, then Yuri will temporarily deafen them, before Kurasu, a wooden puppet, thus devoid of chakra to sense, will attack the target with his hidden blades._

_Kurogan Genjutsu: Kansei Kuroyami (Dark Eye Illusion Technique: Complete Darkness) A genjutsu of the Kurogan that cloaks the target in pitch darkness, effectively turning them blind._

_Ototon: Nanchou no Otonami (Sound Release: Deafness Soundwave) Releasing super-concentrated bursts of vibration, the user temporarily turns the target deaf._

**A/N: And there's your next chapter. Are you ready? Next chapter Team Naruto goes to Suna!**

**Now, my wonderful readers, don't forget to tell me how I'm doing and what I can do to improve through review or PM.**


	5. Chapter V

**Naruto of the Red Sands**

**Chapter V**

**A/N: Okay people! Orpheus is back with the next chapter of Naruto of the Red Sands! My first order of business is to answer this specific problem for everyone… the problem of Naruto's stealth everyone seems to critique me on.**

**Are you serious? The boy is nine years old! Plus he hates Konoha with every fiber of his being, so he's not precisely thinking clearly, you know. And to Peter Kim, Naruto didn't poison him because the guy's a Hebi, they all have a natural immunity to poison because of their bloodline.**

** Now, to answer some reviews.**

** Guest: Calm down, it was hypothetical. Minato didn't actually rape Kushina, just use a genjutsu to make her think she loved him. In a sense it both was and wasn't rape. Plus, my story, so I can choose what happens before it began.**

**Spartan593: Yes, they should've, but I'm playing off the stigma that Konoha nin are a bit lazy. I mean, come on, why are there only two gate guards? And chuunin? Think about it, one skilled opponent could take them out and walk right in. Plus, Kin is skilled in genjutsu to the point she might be able to hold against Kurenai for say, a minute, at this point.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

(Location: Sunagakure, Kazekage Tower, Two Weeks Later)

The Kazekage Office was grand. It was just as big as the Hokage Office in Konoha, with expensive paintings on the walls, three shelves full of _books _as they are called in the Western Lands, and all the furniture looked to be made of fine oak, an expensive commodity in the desert. At the desk sat the Yondaime Kazekage.

The man was a little over five feet tall with a mop of spiked, reddish hair, darkish brown eyes, tanned skin and in the Kazekage robes and hat. He wore a veil over the bottom half of his face.

Before him, all four members of Team Naruto had bowed. Although they were unrecognizable.

Sasori currently was in his new body, that of Hebi Shinko. He wore a cloak over his body that was the darkest red, almost black, with silver crescents over it.

Haku, having found a strange enzyme within an animal he was studying for medical purposes, had discovered a way to change the pigment of his skin, and his usually pale skin was a light tan. His hair had been died a forest green color while he still wore his battle kimono.

Kin looked the same, not having to change her identity.

Naruto had died his once blonde hair a bright red and gotten ahold of a set of purple contacts, which he now wore. With Kin's help, he had a small, unnoticeable genjutsu over his whisker marks and had changed his clothes. He now wore a fishnet shirt under a blood-red shirt, ANBU-style pants a little darker in shade, shinobi sandals, and a blood-red, ankle-length trench coat with black trimming and orange flames licking the bottom.

"Thank you for allowing us a meeting, Kazekage-sama." Sasori, using Shinko's voice, said.

The Kazekage nodded. "Yes. I was curious why four obvious ninja were requesting asylum in Suna and admittance into its shinobi forces." Sasori nodded his head.

"Yes, Kazekage-sama. We wish because myself, and Naruto here were former apprentices of the greatest puppetmaster to leave this village." The Kazekage widened his eyes at that. "I, Hebi Kyogi, and Uzumaki Naruto are former students of Akasuna no Sasori. Sasori of the Red Sands." The Kazekage first frowned, then he smiled.

"And why should I wish you to be a part of my village?" The Kazekage asked.

"Kazekage-sama, we two are puppeteers of the highest degree. I, myself am a master, while Naruto is easily enough to take on a group of three mid-jounin. At the age of nine, he can control up to four organic puppets plus two wooden ones." The Kazekage grinned wider, his son wasn't even at that level yet. "Naruto's two students are nothing to laugh at either."

"Students?" He asked curiously, and Naruto stepped forward.

"Hai, Kazekage-sama. My students are Yuki Haku and Tsuchi Kin, behind me. Haku is the last remaining of the Yuki clan and possesses the Hyouton bloodline, even able to make water from the air, as the Nidaime Hokage and Uzumaki Kushina, my mother, were fabled to be able to do. Tsuchi Kin is a genjutsu mistress and interrogation specialist at such a young age, only a year senior to myself." The Kazekage nodded, clearly impressed.

"True… why shouldn't I just turn you four over to Konoha, though?" He asked with a frown. They were strong, but his allies has specified what he should do if they came to Suna.

"Why… Kazekage-sama, are you not in need of a stable jinchuuriki?" Naruto asked innocently. "While here, I've deduced that your son, Subaku no Gaara is in fact a jinchuuriki, from the Ichibi if my hunch is correct." The Kazekage's eyes became cold and threatening.

"Choose your next words carefully, or you may end up dead within the next two minutes." Naruto merely grinned at the obviously power-hungry man to do such a thing to his own son.

"Kazekage-sama, I, Uzumaki Naruto, son of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato, am the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the Nine-Tailed Fox." Suddenly the Wind Shadow's grin threatened to split his face in two as he threw each of the group a Suna hitai-ite.

"Welcome to Sunagakure." He said. On the inside, he was already plotting _'Now with Konoha's jinchuuriki… as well as my son, who can stop me?'_

(Location: Marshal's Office, Sunagakure)

The next stop was to the local bounty office to turn in a single bounty on a missing-nin that would set their monetary needs for a time. Walking in, Naruto placed a single scroll on the lone desk within, the officer looked up to see the redhead and raised an eyebrow.

"Turning in a runaway genin you found?" He asked with a smile, Naruto merely unrolled the scroll and unsealed the head within, setting iit on the desk facing the officer who was gaping like a fish.

"Newly formed Team 17 of Suna," Naruto began, using the team name the Kazekage had given them after agreeing to allow the four to remain a team under the guidance of 'Shinko'. "reporting to turn in the bounty of one Akasuna no Sasori, S-class missing-nin of Sunagakure." The bounty officer looked at the head and went through three handseals, a glowing red aura surrounding his hands as he touched the head.

Sasori had explained this, it was a jutsu used to check to make sure that the head of a bounty was in fact genuine. Nodding, the officer opened a drawer on his desk and handed Naruto a sealed scroll with the words 'Bounty of Sasori' on it. Naruto stuffed it in his trench coat and grinned at the man.

The four left his office and said bounty officer had one thought… _'How the hell did three underage genin and a teenage jounin take out an S-rank criminal!' _

(Location: Suna Shinobi District)

Team 17 headed into the shinobi distict of Konoha to find the two-bedroom apartment that the Kazekage had graciously offered them. Walking through they noticed that shinobi shops lined the streets, as well as vendor stands stood in the desert sands. Naruto was filing locations of a weapons shop, ninja tool shop, shinobi clothing store, and puppet supply shop into his memory.

**"Good idea, Naruto. Don't let a single opportunity pass you by."**Naruto mentally nodded to his companion. Although… _'Where have you been, Hitomi-chan?I haven't heard anything from you in weeks.' _Naruto could feel the vixen grin. **"Well… you see… I've been doing things with your puppets every time you make chakra strings, and it's tiring. So I slept afterwards, but you'll love this. Naruto-kun… I found out a way for you to use my chakra through the strings to give each puppet access to youkai. Eventually you can even give up to nine organic puppets a one-tail cloak!" **Naruto grinned at that prospect, and was about to reply when…

"Alright, we're here." Sasori told them. Naruto looked up to see they were on the first floor of a decent apartment building. The building itself was white stone and their door was a light green. Sasori opened the door for them and the four stepped inside. The kitchen and living room together were easily double the size of his kitchen and living room in Konoha in his apartment. Down a hallway were three doors, two bedrooms and the single bathroom. _'That… is gonna cause problems.' _Naruto thought, already imagining the mornings where the team will fight over said bathroom.

Each wall was white as the building outside and the place was pre-furnished, with a decent-looking couch, an acceptable table, an empty bookcase, and a lot of space for other things.

"It will do for now." Sasori commented. "However, you three must gather supplies. I saw each of you eyeing the various shops. Haku, you will get us shuriken, senbon, kunai, wire, sealing scrolls, and smoke bombs from that ninja tool shop." The Yuki nodded and disappeared in a swirl of icicles. "Kin, head to the weapons shop and pick out a weapon for yourself. I will find a few kenjutsu scrolls later and begin teaching you." The girl nodded and grinned, already imagining the new tortures she could bring to people with a new blade in her arsenal as she shunshined in a flash of light.

"Naruto, I want you to visit that puppetry shop and gather supplies. I know you have a couple incomplete ones, and so do I. Use the bounty on my head to get it." Naruto grinned at that, impressed with his sensei's genius at gathering the bounty on his own head. "I'd say to get enough for… a dozen bodies? That sounds right. A dozen and we'll head back if we get low. Understood?" Naruto nodded.

The once blonde, now redhead, left in a purplish vortex of chakra.

(Location: With Haku)

Haku arrived at the ninja tool store in his ice shunshin, surprising the surrounding shinobi and civilians. Seeing the Suna hitai-ite on his neck, they simply waved it of though. The Yuki stepped inside and walked to the clerk.

He was about 5'3" with thin grey hair and green eyes filled with wisdom. He wore a yellow shirt and brown pants, each with many pockets, and was missing his left eye. In his mouth sat a senbon (just like Genma) that he was chewing and the clerk was busy assorting different things. When Haku walked in, the man stopped his working and smiled to him, before frowning at his youth.

"Hello, young man, I am Togatta, how may I help you?" Haku smiled back and walked right up to him.

"Hello, Togatta-san, I am in need of some shuriken, senbon, kunai, wire, smoke bombs, and scrolls." After a second the boy continued. "And also some explosive notes, if you have any. My team and I need to restock on supplies before Kazekage-sama gives us a mission." Togatta nodded and began gathering what was requested, while still talking.

"So, how long have you been a genin…"

"Haku, Yuki Haku. My team and I were recently allowed into Suna's ranks and look forward to protecting Suna to our best ability. The villages we were from disrespected each of us and tried to end our lives, so we decided to join our late sensei's village." The man nodded. It wasn't an uncommon story, especially with that civil war in Kiri. Kids would be taken in by an experienced ninja, who died protecting them, and they would seek refuge in a hidden village. Togatta himself was such a case, he was originally from Kusa.

Togatta gathered everything and sealed it into two scrolls as Haku payed for it. "Good luck to you, Haku-san. I hope Suna is as good to you as it has been to me." Haku smiled warmly to the old man and nodded.

"Thank you as well, Togatta-san. I'm sure this place will be better than Kiri was." The boy left out the door to go explore the village.

(Location: With Kin)

Kin appeared outside a shop named "Suchiruu Armory" and walked inside. The only other people inside were the clerk and a blonde-haired girl.

The clerk was a woman that looked to be in her early thirties with long, ash-grey hair to her back, bright green eyes, and a smile. She wore a tight black shirt that accentuated her C-cup breasts and black pants that hugged her legs, over everything was a brown cloak so common to the citizens of Suna as a protection to the sand.

The other, a blonde-haired girl with four ponytails in her hair who was probably 11 and had bright green, pupilless eyes. She wore a black battle kimono and had a _monstrous _club attached to her back. That thing had to weigh sixty pounds!

Kin walked in and ignored the clerk, going straight to the blonde girl. "Hey, what is that thing on your back?" She asked the girl.

Said blonde glanced at her. "Go away." She said coldly. Kin absolutely _hated _being ignored, so she did the most logical thing. She grabbed one of the blonde's ponytails and pulled down until she was on level with her own face.

"I asked you a question, blondie. Answer me." Kin said coldly and jumped back as the girl tried to punch her.

"Oh, it is on now." The blonde one told Kin as she pushed her outside and followed quickly behind. "I'm going to make you regret that." She growled out and tokk the club-like thing off her back, stalking towards Kin.

Oddly enough, everyone had left the street as the two prepared to fight.

(Location: With Naruto)

Naruto shunshined in front of the puppetry shop and stepped in. What he saw was absolutely mesmerizing. Only two people were in the store, but he knew who they were automatically.

The first was none other than Chiyo. The White Puppet Master! Naruto had stars in his eyes as he spotted her. Sasori had even admitted that she was probably a little better than himself. She was his teacher's teacher!

The other was who looked to be her new apprentice, the boy was strange though. He had makeup on his face and wore some weird black cat pajamas. Naruto recognized him as Subaku no Kankuro, son of the Kazekage. Naruto made it a point to learn all the families of kages as well as his fellow puppet-users, Kankuro fit both categories.

The elder woman looked up from where she was instructing Kankuro on how to mend his puppet to see Naruto and smiled warmly at him. "Hello, how can I help you?" She gestured to her wares, everything from wooden limbs to blades, to mechanized kunai and senbon shooters and poisons. "Are you interested in learning the fine arts of puppetry? Too few of your generation understand it nowadays."

Naruto smiled at her. "I am here for some supplies, Chiyo-sama." He bowed and she looked at him. "I am already well aquainted in the fine arts of puppetry, nearing my third year of practice. If you are offering to teach, I will gratefully accept. My master always spoke highly of you before he passed on." The woman was intrigued now.

"At such a young age? You do not appear to be born of the Suna blood though, your master must've taught you outside the city? This is the first time I've seen you."

Naruto smiled at her and noticed Kankuro had stopped to pay attention. "Hai, Chiyo-sama. I was found by him outside of my former village, Konoha. He took me in roughly twenty months ago and taught me everything I know of puppets. He died a few weeks ago and I, along with my three companions, sought to become shinobi of the village he was born in. He spoke so highly of it that we felt obligated to honor his memory."

"This man… who was he?" She asked curiously.

"Chiyo-sama…" Naruto put his head down sadly. _'I really want her to teach me! This better work!' _**"It will kit, just trust me and Sasori. He told you if you ever ran into this mortal to do this." **"I'm sorry… but master… was your now deceased grandson." Chiyo took a step back, then nodded.

"I… see. And how did…?"

"We were ambushed by Konoha and Kiri hunter-nin…" Naruto said softly, hoping his acting skills were good enough. At least he was telling the truth, they really were ambushed by Konoha and Kiri hunter-nins on the way to Suna who were after Haku and himself. They were dealt with quickly, though. "One was a Hebi of Konoha… and when he saw my firend Shinko, a former Hebi clansman, with him, he released a large ball of acid. Sasori-sensei tried blocking it with two of his puppets, but some got him and began eating his flesh, bones, muscles, and organs, slowly spreading.

"Sasori-sensei knew he was going to die, so he almost the last of his chakra to take care of them. Before he died he told me three things, the first was to travel to Suna. The second was to get the bounty on his head so he could at least give me and my friends some sort of gift before he died completely. And finally… he told me to find you and tell you… Sorry." The old woman let a single tear fall from her eye and hung her head down.

"I… see. So he at least did some good in this world before he left it. I am glad though that someone took up his legacy." Naruto smiled sadly to his sensei's baa-chan (grandma/granny). "But you are still an incomplete puppeteer. I suppose you use organic puppets?" Naruto nodded. "I will teach you alongside Kankuro here. He uses wooden ones."

Kankuro, a year older than Naruto, estched as the redhead waved. Then Naruto looked at his puppet. "Chiyo-sama? Is that… Kurasu?" Naruto asked. The other two puppeteer nodded simultaneously and Naruto smiled. "Then Kankuro-san, I can teach you how to control it, if you can't yet. Kurasu was my first puppet as well."

Chiyo smiled as she watched the redhead and Kankuro talking, Naruto teaching Kankuro all about Kurasu and helping him repair the puppet. _'Perhaps he can help Kankuro with his social problems as well as his training. The boy seems very friendly and energetic. Just like you once were… Sasori.'_

(Location: Kin)

Two little girls were simply staring each other down in the now empty street. People knew not to mess with the Kazekage's daughter… but Kin didn't get the memo. Each was grinning at the other with sadistic ideas in their minds about what to do to the other girl.

"Alright, little girl. Let me show you what happens to those who mess with Subaku no Temari!" The now identified Temari shouted from her position of ten feet away. Kin merely grinned wickedly.

"If you say so, blondie. Let's dance!" Kin let loose a dozen kunai at her opponent, who hefted the club from her back and opened it, revealing a large battle fan. With a single Wind-chakra laced swing, the kunai flew around her and embedded into the ground and buildings behind her.

Temari then jumped up high, letting loose a whirlwind at her opponent, who merely shimmered out of existence. "A Bunshin!" Temari exclaimed as three senbon found their way into her left leg. Temari landed with a grunt and Kin landed from the rooftop she had just jumped from with a sadistic smirk on her face.

"Sorry blondie, but I'm a genjutsu specialist! You can't harm what you can't hit, you know." Temari growled at this information and opened her fan wider, showing two moons.

With a single swing she shouted _"Kamaitachi no jutsu!" _(Sickle Weasel Technique) and a stronger whirlwind of chakra threw up sand as it barreled toward the black-haired girl. Said kunoichi merely laughed and threw down a smoke bomb. When the whirlwind easily dissipated it, Kin was nowhere to be found.

Temari looked around frantically. _'Not on the left, right, behind me, in front… not above. Where is she?' _"That only leaves…" She looked down and quickly jumped away just as Kin tried to use a _"Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu." _(Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique) and failed.

Kin jumped out of the ground and smiled at the girl. "Good. If you lost to a simple D-rank Doton jutsu I would be very disappointed." Kin pointed out to the blonde.

Temari simply glared at her and opened her fan's third moon before swinging it. Kin flew threw handseals and cast one of the few elemental jutsu she had learned. _"Doton: Doryuheki!"_ (Earth Release: Earth Style Wall) Kin spat out a line of mud that grew into a defensive wall, effectively blocking the whirlwind.

"Damn!" Temari exclaimed. In truth though, she was excited. Most people avoided her so she never really got a good fight. And this kunoichi, probably two or three years younger, easily was challenging her. She was enjoying this immensely.

Kin was obviously having a great time, if that mad grin was anything to go by. She jumped over her wall and let loose multiple shuriken towards Temari. The blonde easily knocked them aside with another wind jutsu, but she didn't notice the chakra stings attached to them from Kin's fingers (she happened to pick up a few things by watching Naruto and Sasori in action), said chakra strings moved as Kin crossed her hands in an X at the wrist and the shuriken moved in a criss-cross formation, leaving Temari's arms with shallow cuts.

Kin landed behind the blonde, and they stood back to back. The whirlwind she just jumped through had left her arms riddled in cuts as well. They leaned back against each other, panting slightly and relying on the other to keep their balance. "You're… pretty good." Kin said through her ragged breathing.

Temari grinned. "You… too. I'm Subaku no Temari by the way." The blonde introduced herself. "I'd shake your hand but…"

"No… it's fine. I'm Tsuchi Kin. Your dad just enlisted me and my friends today as shinobi. Nice to meet you Temari."

"You too… Kin."

"That fan thing is pretty cool…"

"So was that shuriken trick." Temari replied.  
As one the two grinned and asked "Could you teach me that?" turning, they slung an arm over each other's shoulders to support themselves and headed back into the weapon shop after they agreed to train together.

No one noticed a certain Yuki who was watching and smiling slightly. "Good job finding a new friend, Kin-san. Maybe you can leave mean alone now." He whispered with a chuckle. He walked off to try and find Naruto-sama or Sasori-san. One could surely keep him company without referring to him as –chan… right?

**A/N: There's the chapter! Now… due to many… many annoying reviews and PM's I've gotten, I'm going to make a drastic choice here. On my profile I'll set up a poll about who to pair Temari with. Haku? Or have her as the second girl paired with Naruto? Be warned! This is the **_**only **_**time I will offer to allow Naruto a second girl in this story (except maybe when Fu comes in), so vote wisely.**

**Until next time… Orpheus out!**


	6. Chapter VI

**Naruto of the Red Sands**

**Chapter VI**

**A/N: Hello all! The next chapter of Naruto of the Red Sands is here! The poll is currently leaning more towards Naruto, but there's still time to vote!**

**Review time!**

**Swagwell: I do realize Kumo has two jinchuuriki, but why bring it up? They are in Suna, not Kumo.**

**Guest: Who is this Number 2? Do you mean Yugito?**

**Codename-ShadowFox: I'm not allowed to say on that, just wait through. Trust me though, I have plans for either way.**

(Location: Road from Suna)

Team 17 was walking out of Suna, each wearing a grey cloak to get through the desert to their destination. The Kazekage had assigned them a simple C-rank mission to take care of a bandit camp that had sprouted up at the nearest Oasis, three miles away.

Sasori had readily accepted, seeing how the bounty from his head was halfway gone after a two and a half years there. The quartet had done a total of 70 D-rank missions and 23 C-ranks, with 2 B-ranks in the mix. So, the team was walking there reminiscing about the past year in Suna.

Naruto was remembering his lessons with Chiyo and Kankuro. Over a year, Naruto had learned about wooden puppets from Chiyo and now had four more in his collection. He had also decided to take up his family art of fuinjutsu, which proved to be very useful to his puppets. He held all his puppets in storage seals on a staff he had taken to caring. It also had a seal on it that allowed him to shape chakra on it to turn it into a scythe on one side or a naginata on the other, even a combination of the two with a scythe and naginata blade on either side. It was riddled with all manner of seals on it to create a complex array of storage seals to hold his now twenty-five organic and five wooden puppets.

Chiyo had also taught him all about herbs and poisons. She showed him just a few of her own deadly poisons and he had immediately took up the art. He especially like the recipes she used for acidic and nerve poisons, and had decided to see what he could do to combine them. There were three results: the first was an acidic gas that resembled _Futton: Koumu no Jutsu_ (Boil Release: Skilled Fog Technique) in its acidity. The second was an acidic nerve-destroying poison that directly attacked the nervous system to destroy everything to leave the target a vegetable without any senses. The third of his original poisons was a poison coating for his blades that would actually melt even bones to a blackish liquid form.

Each of his puppets had been equipped with one of the gases and all blades were coated in the last one.

Then there was his studies with Kankuro. The two of them became sparring partners quickly and Kankuro could already use a wooden puppet with two fingers and an organic with three, meaning he could control up to five wooden puppets and up to three organic puppets. Kankuro preferred to use wooden puppets though, while Naruto preferred his organic ones.

The two of them had become quick friends (even if Kankuro was weird in his make-up and catsuit) and could constantly be seen with each other around town. Haku had soon joined that group, being friends with Kankuro as well.

Then Kankuro had introduced Naruto to his blonde sister, Temari, who Naruto had heard a bit about, not from Kankuro, but from Kin.

Apparently, Kin and Temari had become the best of friends after their little 'catfight' as Kankuro dubbed it after he heard the rumors, and hung out all the time. Kin learned a few things from the blonde, such as how to use a battle fan (though Kin used four handheld fans in conjunction with chakra strings) and also that she had a secondary affinity for Wind, allowing her to use some of the wind release fan techniques. Kin, on the other hand, had taught Temari the finer parts of interrogation and how useful senbon are, as well as a few lower level genjutsu that would be useful if she used her fan as well.

Haku, on the other hand, had taken up kenjutsu with a retired Suna shinobi he had met, Togatta, who apparently was a veteran of the Second and Third Shinobi World War. The Yuki boy had taken to using a katana made of chakra metal and even created a few Hyouton kenjutsu techniques with the man's help.

Sasori had become an enigma to the rest of Suna, tending to stay indoors or training in the desert of Suna with any new puppets. He did so to avoid contact with his grandmother and anyone else who would bring out memories of the city. The puppet master had also gotten the four of them a better place to stay after a year, a relatively big house with six bedrooms, two floors, and a giant basement. With a little fuinjutsu from Naruto, it became a private training ground/lab for Sasori to practice his puppets and create or repair them.

After the meeting of the five new friends, they began training together as well. Temari took to scribing storage seals on her fan to give nasty surprises to her opponents while Kankuro learned a bit of using a pair of wakizashis from the Ice user and would only use them on the off chance he couldn't remain long range from an opponent. After the almost three years there, and over two years of knowing each other, each of the five had a basic understanding on each other's areas of expertise. Chakra strings, basic fuin, gen, and kenjutsu, and every one had a few ninjutsu in their respective elements, Wind for Haku, Temari, Kin, and Naruto, Earth for Kankuro and Kin, and Water for Haku and Naruto.

There was also the slight scuffle between Naruto and Gaara after there meeting, which took place a little over a year and a half after Team 17's arrival to Suna.

_**Flashback**_

_** Naruto was walking towards Chiyo's shop early in the morning. He was excited, she had promised to let him attempt to create his own poisons that day after months of having him study different plants that could be used and what they did when combined with other plants to the body. He was fifteen minutes from her shop when the sand in front of him swirled in a small vortex before dispereing to reveal a form he had had been avoiding since he came to hidden Sand Village, Subaku no Gaara.**_

_** The psychopathic redhead wore a short-sleeved black shirt with a fishnet shirt underneath, black pants that were rolled up to his ankles and shinobi sandals. Around his eyes were black rings that made him resemble a raccoon and his forehead had the red kanji for Love on it. Around his upper body was a white sash and a red strap that held up the sand gourd on his back. The Ichibi jinchuuriki looked at Naruto with a strange glint in his eyes that Naruto knew meant he was going to try and kill him.**_

_** Naruto looked at the boy analytically and held his staff defensively, putting chakra into it to make it into a scythe-naginata. "Hello, Gaara. How can I be of service?" Naruto asked completely seriously.**_

_** The boy grinned maniacally. "Mother wants your blood, Uzumaki Naruto." He said quietly and Naruto sighed.**_

_** "I thought so… guess I was going to have to take care of this problem sooner or later." Naruto tapped into his youkai and the blue chakra blades on his staff turned purplish and then bright red. Without a word, Naruto launched himself at his fellow jinchuuriki and swung the naginata side at him in a horizontal slashonly to have it blocked by hardened sand. Naruto flipped over the boy and attempted to slice him with the scythe side, shich was soon caught in the sand. With a pulse of youkai, the sand dropped and he was behind Gaara, attempting to stab him with the naginata blade and was stopped by the sand, which was now a dome surrounding the boy.**_

_** Naruto jumped back and sighed. "Why is everything so hard?" He asked no one in particular. Behind the sand dome, Gaara was cackling as the dome turned to spikes that soon shot towards him. Naruto looked at them bored and stabbed his bladed staff into the ground as he made a multitude of chakra strings and altered the course of the spikes ten at a time just enough for them to sail past him with tugs in certain directions.**_

_** The Kyuubi jinchuuriki then made chakra strings with one hands and used them as a whip towards Gaara after they wove themselves into a chakra whip with spikes along its length and a sharp end. The sand that protected him was left with a large gash in it. Naruto smiled and pulled his chakra whip back. "So Chiyo-sama was right about chakra strings being used for more than puppetry."**_

_** Naruto lashed with his Chakra Whip once again, with youkai this time and struck the defensive sand dome once more, causing it to destabilize and strike Gaara across the chest, eaving a shallow gash across it.**_

_** The next thing he knew, all of Suna heard a shrill scream from Gaara because he had never bled before, and the already unstable jinchuuriki was driven over the edge. The surrounding sand rose up, crawling along his body up to his arms and face, turning him into a mini-Shukaku with human legs.**_

___"Careful Kit! He's using his mini Biju form. For Shukaku, his jinchuuriki have always only had that and full-blown Biju-form. You have to end this now!" __**Naruto nodded internally to Hitomi and formed a cross handseal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Two other Narutos formed and the original unsealed six puppets. He took control of Kage and Yuri, one clone took Raikiri and Nami, and the final one took two of Naruto's more recent puppets, Gumo and Kazan.**_

_** Gumo was of the Jiraigumo clan of Kiri and was actually a gift to Naruto from Sasori. She had shoulder-length, silky black hair, deep brown eyes, and a dark complexion. The woman was probably no older than twenty at her death and was a beauty dressed in a silk battle kimono of the deepest blue that nicely showed off her legs, C-cup breasts, and firm butt. Her unique feature was the fact that she had four arms. This particular puppet had a flamethrower in her mouth that would create fireballs when she spit globs of spider silk from her mouth. Each of her hands had steel-coated nails that created sharp claws and all her teeth were serrated. Each of her palms had holes to shoot senbon, kunai, or shuriken. She wore a set of boots on her feet with a hidden blade in the sole that was six inches long and coated in Naruto's special acidic poison and Gumo's last feature was her stomach being a trapdoor that opened to reveal a smoke bomb shooter that shot out a nerve gas Chiyo had referred to as 'mustard gas'.**_

_** Kazan was an Iwa missing-nin that Naruto had converted to a puppet for the simple reason of his ability to use Youton. He had straight brown to his shoulders and grey eyes as well as slightly tanned skin. His muscular figure was hidden by a high-collared black cloak that covered his entire body (think Akatsuki cloak without the clouds). Naruto barely altered Kazan at all, only adding two oil sprayers in his palms to increase the lethality of his Youton jutsus and hidden scythe blades in his wrists that had six-inch handles on them.**_

_** The clones and Naruto jumped to three roofs and sent the puppets out. Raikiri began with a **_**"Raiton: Gian" **_**Lightning Release: False Darkness) and sent out a salvo of lightning spears that eaily tore through the sand wall that was suddenly formed and Gaara leapt out of the way. "Yes, Uzumaki! Prove my existence!" The deranged jinchuuriki yelled. **_

_** Nami and Kazan worked together. **_**"Youton: Sekkaigyou no Jutsu!"**_** (Lava Release: Quicklime Congealing Technique) **_**"Suiton: Mizurappa no Jutsu!"**_** (Water Release: Water Trumpet Technique) The two mixed and as they hit the wall of sand that formed, turned it into concrete which was quickly shattered by another **_**Raiton: Gian **_**from Raikiri.**_

_** Gaara yelled like a beast and his sand arm shot out, attempting to smash the trio of puppets. Kage quickly called out "**_**Kageheki**_**!" (Shadow Wall) though and a wall of shadows rose up to block the appendage.**_

_** Gaara retracted his sand arm as a tail was formed behind him and Naruto was quickly warned by Hitomi that he was almost in full biju form. **_**'Not on my watch' **_**he thought and circled the Ichibi jinchuuriki with his six puppets.**_

__**"Enshoku Higi: Rokukugutsurou!" **_**(Orange Secret Technique: Six Puppet Prison)**__**The three Narutos said as one. Each puppet performed handseals and slammed their fists into the ground and spoke the name of six different techniques simultaneously.**_

__**"Suiton: Suiben no Jutsu!" **_**(Water Release: Water Whip Technique) **_

"**Raiton: Shokkusho!" **_**(Lightning Release: Shock Palm) **_

"**Kumoshibari!" **_**(Spider Bind)**_

"**Ototon: Otonami no Nanchou!" **_**(Sound Release: Deafness Soundwave)**_

__**"Doton: Doryuheki!" **_**(Earth Release: Earth Style Wall)**_

__**"Kurogan Genjutsu: Kansei Kuroyami!" **_**(Dark Eye Illusion Technique: Complete Darkness)**_

_** Nami opened his mouth and a dozen water whips shot out and wrapped up Gaara as Raikiri placed both palms on Nami's back, sending a current of electricity through the Kiri puppet, electrifying the whips, thereby dampening and destabilizing the sand. Gumo then spat out a cobweb of her sticky silk that pushed Gaara to the newly created earth wall, trapping him before Kage and Yuri temporarily blinded and deafened the jinchuuriki.**_

_** Naruto sighed in relief as he resealed the puppets in his staff and dispelled the clones. He walked up to Gaara and lifted his shirt, looking at the sealing array for keeping the Ichibi inside him. "No wonder he's so crazy…" Naruto commented. "This seal is crappy." Naruto shook his head and sighed once more. He's been doing that too much. "I don't know enough to change it though… I'll have to change it after I can. I'll just double my fuinjutsu training." Naruto said to himself and with a nod, took out a few sealing supplies and drew a chakra nullification seal on the wall, that would cause the wall, webs, and Gaara's temporary blind and deafness to go away after thirty seconds. That's all he needed to shunshin away to Chiyo's shop.**_

_**Flashback End**_

After that, Gaara had made it a point to find Naruto at least three times a month to 'prove his existence'. Naruto was always alone when it happened, and always beat Gaara before he could go to a full biju-state. True to his word, Naruto had upped his fuinjutsu training and after another eight months, he trapped Gaara in the _Rikukugutsurou _and altered the seal at their next fight.

Upon doing so, Gaara had promptly passed out and slept for a week straight, if what Kankuro and Temari said were anything to go by. The whole time Kankuro was on the verge of a heart attack because he kept thinking Shukaku was going to be released.

It was actually kind of funny.

When Gaara woke up, he promptly apologized to his siblings and then thanked Naruto. Naruto shrugged it off and told him it was just his good nature (when it had nothing to do with Konoha, he _was _pretty nice). After that, Gaara became the sixth member of the group.

The redhead was still quiet and polite, but had adopted Haku's philosophy of protecting your friends after they hung out so much. And whenever anyone dared called Gaara a demon, Haku would take it upon himself to freeze them. The medic nins' face was always priceless when someone came into the hospital with frostbite or hypothermia.

Naruto was shaken out of his thoughts when Sasori got their attention. "Okay Team, ready?" The three nodded as they stood fifty feet outside the Bandits' Camp. "Initiate Infiltration Plan 6." He continued and shunshined away with Naruto right behind him. Kin and Haku both nodded to each other and took their own positions.

(Location: Inside Bandit Camp)

Torou Yoku was a simple man. He was a man of principle. And what was that principle? Money. He got it anyway he could, even by letting bandits hire him for protection. Maybe that's the reason he left Suna. After all, in recent years, the village of sand had been lacking in missions, so of course someone with his particular 'principles' would leave.

Yoku was a relatively attractive man with spiky brown hair, forest green eyes, tanned skin and wore a brown robe to keep the sand off of him. On his back was two katana in an x-formation.

It was funny how life worked out though. After the last leader of these bandits died, they put Yoku in charge, seeing how he was the strongest of them, the only shinobi in the group. So he was responsible for them and got the jobs for the group, as well as extorting people for the water at the oasis and charging people to go past them to get to Suna or to get out of Kaze no Kuni.

He was content with doing this for a while until the money slowed down and then they would leave for somewhere else. At least… that was the plan.

Everything changed when he heard his men yelling.

Yoku ran out of his tent a strange scene. The sky above his camp was littered with clouds and it was… snowing? In the freaking desert! Taking out his two swords, Yoku readied himself for a fight.

Everyone in the camp (rather stupidly) was gathered in the middle. Yoku shunshined to the middle of said group and looked at them. "Gaitou!" One of the skinnier bandits looked at the leader. "What the hell is going on!" Gaitou looked at him nervously.

"Yoku… we're under attack! The whole camp is being covered in snow, the south end is completely riddled in senbon and anyone who goes over there drops unconscious and their ears start bleeding. The entire east and north ends are on fire and a two giant earth walls crushed everything on the north end. Everyone who escaped is here." Yoku looked at the group again and sighed. There was barely a hundred and fifty left here… this morning he had almost a thousand people under his command.

"Very well…" Yoku said quietly and looked at his group. "It's obviously ninja. At least four, by the looks of it. One with a fire affinity, one with an earth, a genjutsu specialist…" Yoku looked at the snow, "and one with the Ice bloodline." The bandits looked fearful at that. A bloodline user meant trouble.

All of a sudden, ice gathered into a humanoid figure in the middle of the group and shattered to reveal a lightly tanned boy with forest green hair in a strange hairstyle that consisted of two ponytails, one on either side of his mask-covered face(imagine how he looks in the Wave mission in canon only with green hair) materialized wearing a black shirt and black ANBU pants with a Kiri hunter nin mask on.

"A-ANBU!" one of the bandits shouted. The 'Kiri hunter nin' suddenly materialized six senbon of ice and threw them out at the bandits, killing six instantly by shooting through their eyes.

"Get him!" Yoku yelled at his subordinates, who had frozen in fear over the KI the hunter nin was releasing. Yoku groaned. "Then I'll do it!" he yelled and brought out his two katana, one had a jet black blade and the other had a silver one, both with seals on the blades.

With a shunshin, he swung both down in an X on the hunter nin. Said shinobi brought up his own katana, a light blue blade with its own seals on the blade, horizontally to block the attack. Yoku jumped back quickly and covered his two blades in wind chakra to extend them by two feet. "I don't care who sent you, I won't let my camp be destroyed!"

The hunter nin laughed. "Naruto-sama will deifinitely enjoy having you." He said and flipped through two sets of one-handed seals, which is when Yoku knew he was in trouble.

_"Suiton: Mizurappa! Futon: Daireppusho!" _(Water Release: Water Trumpet; Wind Release: Great Gale Palm) The hunter nin flipped his mask up to reveal an effeminate face with dark brown eyes and put a thumb a finger curled into a circle in front of his mouth, _"Kokyuu no Hyousenbon!" _(Ice Needle Breath) Through the hunter nin's hand a spray of ice needles came out, concentrated on Yoku's position.

The missing nin dodged to the left and idly noticed his men were being slaughtered by two puppet users and a black haired girl who was obviously putting them in a wide-range genjutsu. Yoku then rolled to the right to dodge a salvo of regular senbon from the hunter-nin.

The hunter-nin then kawarimied with one of his senbon and slashed at Yoku, who dodged but was still shallowly cut on one of his arms. Yoku parried another downward slash and attempted a slash, only for the hunter-nin to finish another set of one-hand seals. _"Hyouton: Shouhyouheki!" _(Ice Release: Ice Crystal Wall) A crystalline wall of ice rose to halt the sword long enough for the hunter-nin to duck under the sword and step into Yoku's guard, and uppercut him. Yoku staggered back and barely brought his swords up in time to block the katana and kunai that the hunter-nin sent a downward swing at him.

Pushing hard against the hunter-nin, Yoku broke off the blades' contact and stabbed them into the ground, and performed quick handseals. _"Fuuton: Fuuryudan!" _(Wind Release: Wind Dragon Missile) He exhaled and the wind took the shape of a dragon before shooting towards his opponent.

The hunter-nin finished his own set of seals. _"Hyouton: Hyouryudan!" _(Ice Release: Ice Dragon Missile) He released an icy fog from his mouth that solidified and formed into another dragon and sent it forward.

The two dragons collided and fought for dominance, cutting gales versus solid ice. Yoku pushed more chakra into his own dragon and slowly it overtook the ice dragon, pushing it back… but the grin on the hunter-nin's face wasn't a good sign.

"Be happy, missing-nin-san, for you will die by Naruto-sama's hands and become his new puppet." Yoku then felt something stab through his chest and looked down to see a blade through his heart. Coughing up blood as both combatants released their jutsu, he turned his head slightly to see a boy with spiky red hair and violet eyes smiling at him.

"Torou Yoku, high C-rank missing nin of Suna, wanted for deserting Suna, thievery of 50,000 ryo from a merchant, killing said merchant, and robbing Suna's Kenshi clan of two katana, the Kage and Raito blades. Known elemental affinity: Wind. Ninjutsu level: high C-rank. Genjutsu level: low C-rank. Kenjutsu level: mid B-rank. Taijutsu level: mid C-rank. Fuinjutsu level: N/A. Bounty: 250,000 ryo in Suna." He read from a Bingo Book as Yoku died by the hidden blade that came out of the redhead's sleeve.

Yoku coughed up more blood and fell to his knees after the blade was removed. "S-so all m-my plans are f-for nothing e-eh?" He asked and the redhead gave him a grin that was almost… fox-like.

"Sorry, Yoku-san!" he said cheerily. "I got plans of my own though! So you had to die. Don't worry though, your swords will do wonders for my puppets and I'll make sure to get your bounty after I learn all your jutsu and ransack your tent." Yoku gave a shaky cough.

"R-right…." Yoku said hoarsely as his breathing became shallow. "I k-know when I-I'm beaten…" he gasped for another breath and dropped to his hands and knees. "At least it was t-to a n-ninja… a t-true shi-shinobi wh-who attacked me from b-behind." Yoku drew his last breathe and collapsed in a puddle of his own blood.

_Original Jutsu_

_Kageheki (Shadow Wall) B-rank jutsu unique to the Nara and Yabun clans of Konoha that manipulates the surrounding shadows into a dense wall capable of blocking steel weapons, ninja tools, and elemental jutsu._

_Enshoku Higi: Rokukugutsurou (Orange Secret Technique: Six Puppet Prison) A secret puppet technique of Naruto's where he uses Kage, Yuri, Raikiri, Nami, Gumo, and Kazan to disable any armor, blind, deafen, and then trap his foe in that order by using electrified water whips, then Kage's Kansei Kuroyami (Complete Darkness) genjutsu to blind the target, then Yuri's Otonami no Nanchou (Deafness Soundwave) to deafen them. Finally, a Doryuheki (Earth Style Wall) will be brought up behind the target by Kazan and Gumo will trap them in a spider-web net against the wall._

_Kokyuu no Hyousenbon (Ice Needle Breath) A combination jutsu of Suiton Mizurappa and Fuuton Daireppusho that sprays out water between the user's finger and thumb while it is in a circle while Wind chakra is being channeled through the palm. The water freezes in needle-like shapes that makes it look like the user is 'breathing needles'._

_Hyouton: Shouhyouheki (Ice Release: Ice Crystal Wall) The user creates a wall of crystalline ice in front of them by freezing the water in the air rapidly._

_Hyouton: Hyouryudan (Ice Release: Ice Dragon Missile) An alteration of Suiryudan that uses supercold mist that solidifies into ice in the form of a dragon that is shot towards a target at high speeds._

**A/N: And there's that chapter done. I know. I know. Big timeskip right? Do not worry! The things that happen during those two and a half years will be flashbacked by the Sand Siblings and Team Naruto in future chapters.**

**Be ready though, next chapter… the two Suna teams head to Konoha! I need the poll finished within three days though. Next chapter will begin the romance between Temari and whoever I pair her with.**

**Until next time, Orpheus out!**


	7. Chapter VII

**Naruto of the Red Sands**

**Chapter VII**

**A/N: Here's the next chapter! Poll is closed, Temari will be paired with Naruto as his second girl.**

**As for Haku… I'll figure that out as well. **

**Review time!**

**Zakura Koi: Exactly!**

**Friaku: Don't worry, Naruto won't solely rely on puppets. He has his own jutsu as well as his scythe-naginata and fuinjutsu.**

**TDVL666: That's interesting, I may do that.**

(Location: Kazekage Office)

Team 17 stood before the Kazekage, ready for the mission report. "Kazekage-sama, Team 17 reporting a success on C-rank mission to dispose of bandit camp near Suna's Oasis. The leader of the camp was C-rank missing nin Torou Yoku of Sunagakure no Sato and was disposed of by Genin Uzumaki Naruto." Sasori paused before continuing. "The twin swords of Yoku were nowhere to be found, unfortunately, and his body has already been turned into the bounty office of Suna."

"The Camp had 50 prisoners, which are now here in Suna under interrogation, as well as over 900 bandits excluding Yoku and no other shinobi. The entire camp was burnt to the ground as well as all the bodies, excluding Torou Yoku."

The Kazekage looked at the jounin and nodded. "Very well. I will have the mission payment wired to your accounts." The Kazekage then looked at each of the shinobi on Team 17. "Team 17, I would like to request your participation in the upcoming Chuunin Exams in three months. The only other team is Team Baki. Will you accept?" The team looked okay to do it and the redheaded Naruto spoke up.

"Kazekage-sama… in what village is the Chuunin Exams?" The Kazekage smiled, knowing that the Uzumaki would definitely ask that question.

"Konohagakure no Sato." He answered and Naruto grinned.

"I'm in. That'll show that ungrateful, good for nothing village for abandoning me." The others voiced their assent and the Kazekage grinned under his veil, handing their jounin sensei paperwork as well as a scroll.

"The next three months you have off to train. In that scroll is your mission information during the exams. Consider it a high A-rank mission with SS-rank payment." The team's eyes widened at that and Naruto grinned.

"Bye your leave, Kazekage-sama." 'Shinko' said and at the Kazekage's nod, the four shunshined away from his office.

The Kazekage couldn't help but grin at this prospect. "Two jinchuuriki and my forces plus Orochimaru and his… this is perfect." He chuckled softly. "Konoha stands no chance. And young Uzumaki will no doubt jump at the idea. And once he's in… both his team and my children tend to follow his lead." The Kazekage let his greed overrule his thoughts as he imagined all the missions and money getting rid of the leaf would gather.

(Location: Chiyo's shop, two weeks later)

Chiyo stood watching her two apprentices with a proud smile. They would do fine on the upcoming Chuunin Exams. Naruto was still the senior of the two young puppet users, but that was to be expected with his experience. He had been practicing for over five years, after all. While Kankuro was barely in his third.

She smiled as she thought of the redhead, he was quite an enigma. When he was around certain people, namely, his team, the Subaku siblings, his sensei, and her, he was friendly and quite fun to be around. But she had seen him around others as well, and noticed he was cold to anyone else. He was still polite, but she saw it was strained. The boy had a painful past, for sure.

She shook herself from her thoughts and smiled as she saw her students creating a new puppet together. It was a wooden puppet they had an idea to build and it was quite an interesting concept.

It would actually be two puppets in one. The first half Yang, which was Kankuro's, would be a humanoid puppet not unlike Karasu, except with six arms this time and two heads, but otherwise they were similar. Yang however, had an extra upgrade over Karasu, Naruto had covered it in seals that could convert chakra from the strings into different chakra natures. Each of Yang's arms would convert to a different element and the sixth arm could become ice chakra, which he found out how to do by studying his friend Haku's jutsu. Each of the heads had seals as well, the first head had a Fuuton conversion seal and the second had a Katon conversion seal, allowing the two to work in conjunction to create a massive flamethrower, or if used in equal proportion, then to use Shakuton techniques, which Pakura kindly helped with.

It was actually rather ingenious.

On the other hand, Naruto's half of the puppet, Yin, was entirely different. While wooden as well, that one was reminiscent of an Oni with four devil tails that swayed behind it, four thick arms, and serrated, dhark-like teeth. It was dressed in the orange cloak that all Naruto's puppets wore (picture the black tattered cloak on Kankuro's puppets, except orange) and had an overly large scythe on its back that was six feet tall with a four foot blade. The arms had their own functions, one would shoot out six-foot rods of steel and another could create arcs of electricity, the third one had a kunai shooter with tags tied to each of them with one of Naruto's unique seals that crossed an explosive tag and storage seal, shooting out senbon from the tag, and the final arm had a spiked chain that burst from the palm through a modified storage seal that could extend and retract said chain, which was poisoned. Atop its head were two demon horns that were also poisoned and could be shot out of the head and were connected by chains as well.

The big genius of these two though, was that they could literally become one puppet or mix and match their parts. The two young puppet prodigies called the combined form Gurei and it was truly fearsome. With three heads, ten arms, and a body that was twelve feet tall, as well as the scythe having seals that caused it grow to fourteen feet long with a six foot blade when Gurei was formed. The thing was fearsome. It was also controlled by two puppeteers. Naruto had figured out that if two separate puppeteers chakra strings were cconnected to one object, they could literally communicate through thought over the strings, and so Kankuro and him wanted to make this.

They had gotten the designs done and were currently building each puppet, Chiyo merely described what the final product would be. And once it was finished, which the younger puppet users estimated would take another month, she would have them train extensively in using them while she also taught them some of her easier medical ninjutsu. Every puppet user needed to know the body anyways, so Chiyo had learned to be a secondary medic nin and decided to pass that down to her students.

The Chuunin Exams wouldn't know what hit them with her two students.

(Location: Subaku Private Training Ground)

Temari and Kin looked at each other, grinning like mad as they pulled out their fans, a giant one for Temari, and four handheld ones for Kin that she was holding with chakra strings. "Ready, Kin-chan?" the blonde asked.

"Of course, Mari-chan!" Kin replied and looked at her opponent. With an unannounced signal, the two swung their respective fans and waves of air crashed into each other and battled for dominance.

Kin ran forward at her blonde-headed friend and threw all of her fans at her, manipulating them with strings to strike at her from separate directions, which Temari countered with small bursts of wind from her giant battle fan. Soon, a cloud of sand was made from the constant streams of wind that covered the field. Temari let loose a _Futon: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough) _to disperse the sand cloud.

Kin and her fans were nowhere to be found, however. Temari held her fan tightly as she saccned the surrounding area. _'Not to my left. Not on my right. Not behind me. Up? No… then that leaves…' _Suddenly the blonde Subaku felt a hand on her ankle and next thing she knew she was buried up to her head in the sand with a grinning Kin in front of her. "Man, I love that jutsu." The black-haired girl said.

"Just shut up and get me out of here." Temari grumbled to her friend. Kin smiled sweetly at the blonde and made five large chakra strings with her right hand and used them to pull the blonde out the ground.

"That gives me another win, Mari-chan!" Kin exclaimed. "How are you going to ever catch up with me? 128 to 85 is where we are right now on our all-time record." The blonde mumbled something about 'evil sadists' but otherwise stayed quiet. Then Kin turned to her only female friend. "Another round?"

This perked the blonde up and she held her fan tightly, readying to fight, and hopefully win, against her rival.

Neither noticed green and orange haired woman keeping an eye on the fight. She nodded to herself as if reassuring her feelings. "Kazekage-sama was correct. They are very talented in Futon manipulation. I think I will train them after all. Should prove entertaining at the chuunin exams." She smiled at that thought and then disappeared in a Scorch Shunshin.

(Location: Ninja Tool Shop)

Togatta watched with pride at his two students of kenjutsu practice katas to the styles they had invented.

His first student, Yuki Haku, was going through katas on his ice and steel katana. The boy had been studying ancient kenjutsu masters, much to Togatta's approval, and had indeed impressed the veteran swordsman. He kept the steel sword at all times during the style, but could create a sword of ice in his left hand using a special hilt made of chakra wood. The ice blade had another function though, by overloading the ice blade with wind chakra, it burst into a thousand pieces the size of cherry blossoms that he could control with a combination of wind and ice chakra. He had named his style Senbonzakura no Mai, the Dance of the Thousand Cherry Blossoms. The master who inspired it was a man known as Kuchiki Byakuya. While he controlled the blossoms, he could also fight with the steel sword, and that's what he was practicing now. He had a quarter of the petal-sized ice shards maneuvering around while he went through an intermediate katana kata of the legendary Uzu no Aka (Red Whirlpool) kenjutsu style of Uzushiogakure. He could only control all of them in beginner katas, so he needed to practice extensively.

Then his second student… that was actually suprising. While Togatta had nothing against the young jinchuuriki himself, having Subaku no Gaara come to his shop and asking to be taught while accompanying Haku was rather… unexpected. Togatta had no problem with it, if Haku trusted the boy. And so Gaara's training began.

Oddly enough, the boy was quite talented in kenjutsu, once he went through physical conditioning. Togatta started him out trying different blades throughout the the first few weeks until he found out that sand was more comfortable for him. So Togatta got Gaara to shape his sand and hold the shape of different blades for hours on end. Gaara could actually form the sand in his gourd into seven different blades at once and hold all of them for twelve hours before he ran low on chakra.

Togatta also found it useful that the jinchuuriki had learned Kage Bunshin from Haku's redhead friend that was constantly referred to as 'Naruto-sama'. With that little trick, plus a jinchuuriki's massive chakra reserves, Gaara quickly learned the katas of different weapons and now had his own style he called Sokonashi no Yaiba, Infinite Blades. He simply formed his sand to a specific type of weapon and used its style and could switch them. He could even have certain of his weapons he had mastered, at this point just the wakizashi, sickle, tanto, and scythe, form from sand and attack while he attacked without needing to touch them. He was hard at work attempting to master a few of the more advanced naginata katas with a few dozen clones.

Between his two quiet students, he was sure Suna would have at least two more Chuunin once the Exams were finished.

(Location: Konoha Gates, Six Weeks Later)

At the Konoha Main Gate stood the Eternal Chuunin Guards, Izumo and Koutetsu. And they were absolutely bored out of their minds. Nothing had happened the whole day!

"Hey… Izumo, what's that?" Koutetsu pointed out a spec in the horizon on the road towards their position. Izumo looked in the distance and smiled.

"It looks like a group of people. Finally we get to do something… I was about to drop dead from boredom!" Koutetsu quickly nodded his agreement and they waited for the the group to come to the gate.

It was a group of eight Suna shinobi. Two jounin and six genin, from the looks of it. _'Probably here for the chuunin exams' _the Eternal Chuunin thought.

As they got even closer, the pair of guards noted their features.

One of the jounin had a ponytail of black hair streaked with strands of red in it, a light tan on his skin, deep black eyes, and wore a deep red cloak with silver crescents all over it opened in the front to show underneath he wore a blue jounin uniform with a Chuunin vest on complete with six scrolls in the pockets with his hitai-ite around his forehead. He also wore black shinobi sandals and had black gloves on with steel bracers that extended from his knuckles back halfway to his elbow.

The other jounin was tall and dressed in a black shirt and black ANBU pants with a Chuunin vest on. On his head he wore a bandages around everything but his face, and the right half of his face was covered by a white veil, his one visible eye was a dark brown color and his skin was a medium tan. His hitai-ite was around his forehead over the veil.

There were three genin behind each jounin.

The first one behind the bandaged one had a mop of reddish hair and the kani for love on his forehead. He wore a black shirt and pants, with fishnet showing under the shirt, and a white sash, plus a gourd on his back strapped on with a strip of leather over his torso that crossed under the sash.

Next to him was a taller boy with a black shirt with a circle on the cest, half yellow, half red, black pants, and a black hood that had sat ears atop it. Around his forehead was the Suna hitai-ite and he also wore kabuki makeup on his face. On his back was a large object wrapped up in bandages with black fur on the top of it.

On the other side of the boy with the gourd was a girl with four blonde ponytails and bright green eyes, and wore a light purple, kimono-like garment that went to her knees with a crimson sash around her waist, fishnet on her right calf and left thigh and she wore a balck hitai-ite around her neck. On her back was what looked to be a wooden club.\

The first of the trio behind the other jounin was a lightly tanned effeminate boy with green hair and brown eyes. He was dressed in a loose, icy blue battle kimono and hakama pants. His hair was worn long with two locks of hair on either side of his face. On his right hip was a steel sword and another sword hilt of wood was next to it. On his other hip sat a hunter-nin mask with two red swirls at the bottom of it and next to that was three pouches for ninja tools.

Next to him was a kunoichi who had long, thick black hair past her back and black eyes. She wore a beige vest, camo scarf and pants, and black shinobi sandals. On either of her hips were two folded fans and she had a ninja pouch on her left thigh. Around her head was the Suna hitai-ite.

Lastly was a boy with spiky, crimson hair and purple eyes. He wore a jet black shirt and ANBU pants with fishnet under the shirt, an ankle-length blood red trench coat and jet black gloves with bracers much like the jounin in front of him. His Suna hitai-ite was around his forehead holding his wild hair back and two bangs crimson bangs framed his face.

"State your name and business in Konoha." Izumo said.

The red and black haired jounin spoke first. "Hebi Shinko, jounin of Suna, here as sensei to my team for the Chuunin Exams."

"Baki, jounin of Suna, here as sensei to my team for the Chuunin Exams."

"Subaku no Temari, genin of Suna, participating in the Chuunin Exams."

"Tsuchi Kin, genin of Suna, participating in the Chuunin Exams."

"Subaku no Gaara, genin of Suna, participating in the Chuunin Exams."

"Yuki Haku, genin of Suna, participating in the Chuunin Exams."

"Subaku no Kankuro, genin of Suna, participating in the Chuunin Exams." Izumo and Koutetsu turned to the other redhead, waiting for his answer.

"Uzumaki Naruto, genin of Suna, participating in the Chuunin Exams." He said without emotion and the Eternal Chuunin took a step back. _'Hokage-sama must be alerted!' _They thought.

After checking their credentials, the guards let them through and watched the Kyuubi jinchuuriki walk past with the Suna group.

Naruto was inwardly grinning. _'Go tell your Hokage that I'm back. Tell Konoha that the Kyuubi brat is here… I don't care. I hope he finds out. And I'll show you, Hiruzen… I'll show you why no one double-crosses an Uzumaki.' _Naruto thought darkly. On the outside, all anyone saw was a stoic red-haired, violet-eyed boy genin of Suna, even if said boy was already plotting the demise of every person to ever have wronged him.

**And that's a wrap! Next chapter begins the Chuunin Exams. What will the Hokage do? How will Konoha react to their 'weapon' in another villages hands? And how bad will Suna destroy Konoha even before the Invasion? You'll have to wait to see.**

**And thank you to everyone who voted on the poll, your feedback is much appreciated!**


	8. Chapter VIII

**Naruto of the Red Sands**

**Chapter VII**

**Dman303: His tails will make another appearance soon, don't worry!**

**Chibaku Naruto: Just read this chapter to find out.**

**Disclaimer: Too bad I don't own Naruto…**

Naruto stood in the tower in the middle of the Forest of Death awaiting the Hokage for the supposed announcement about the third round. This whole thing was too easy. Was this really what it took to be a Chuunin?

_**Flashback- Five Days ago**_

_The Sand Siblings and Team 17 were walking from their hotel to the Konoha Academy. About halfway there, a cat-masked ANBU appeared in front of Naruto._

_ "Uzumaki Naruto. The Hokage would like to have a pri-"_

_ "No." Naruto interrupted the cat-masked ANBU. "I apologize Neko-san, but I am now a Suna nin. I respect the fact that you were one of the few that actually attempted to protect me during the beatings when you could, but I am no longer under the Hokage's jurisdiction. And I am sure that he does not wish to begin a war with the village's only ally, correct?" Naruto smiled a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Now, I have to be at the Academy now for the Chuunin Exams."_

_ Neko was shocked. This was not the cheerful, cute, fun-loving, naïve boy she knew. What had they done?_

_ "I will inform Hokage-sama." Naruto nodded and led the five other Suna genin to the Academy. They walked in and immediately noticed the group of shinobi from different villages in front of a door with two shinobi with Konoha hitai-ites on their foreheads not letting anyone through._

_ The door number obviously had a genjutsu on it, which everyone on Naruto's team easily noticed and signaled the Sand Siblings to follow them up another set of stairs to the third floor where they found the real room._

_ "Come on, let's get this over with." Naruto told his friends. The redhead opened the door and automatically noted the supposed KI that the collective group unleashed on him and his five friends as they walked inside. Naruto chuckled and then released easily triple of what they could together on them and wasn't even trying. After that, they all averted their gazes from him._

_ The Suna group headed to the back. Gaara leaned against a wall with his arms crossed while Temari and Haku sat on a nearby table, Kankuro took a seat and promptly took a nap, Kin sttod next to Naruto who was next to his brother jinchuuriki gazing at the competition._

_ "Kin, what do you think of the shinobi here?" the raven-haired girl looked on at the group and frowned._

_ "I don't see much of a problem…" then she locked onto a few of the teams. One was from Ame, one from Taki, one from Kusa, and three from Kiri. "Except for a few of these guys." She pointed them out to the redhead who looked at her quizzically. "One of those guys from Ame has one of their signature umbrellas. You could use one for your collection." Naruto nodded. "The green-haired girl from Taki, she seems powerful. My sensor abilities aren't very good, but even I can tell she has a lot of chakra. Then the redhead from Kusa…" Naruto's eyes bulged at what he saw._

_ "An Uzumaki, you think?" Kin nodded before continuing._

_ "And the Kiri, their civil war just ended, so any genin have war experience. Plus they have powerful bloodlines. I suggest we take at least one of those teams down and try to get them in your collection." Naruto nodded._

_ "Very good Kin. I didn't notice the redhead, but here's what I can tell you. The green-haired girl is a jinchuuriki. I can sense her loneliness with Hitomi's Negative Emotions Sense and her youki from here. Of the Kiri nin, one team is made of clans with subelements, one is made of clans with physical kekkai genkai (like Kidoumaru and Sakon/Ukon's clan) and the last has one doujutsu user, one with a physical kekkai genkai, and one with a subelement. The four Ame teams in this room aren't even worth noting._

_ "Furthermore, from Konoha, the only teams I'm going to bother with are those with clans. I count two Inuzukas in this room, four Aburames, two main branch Hyuuga, four Branch house Hyuuga, the sole Uchiha, who Orochimaru wants so I can't touch him, two Yabun, a Hebi member, two Fenikkusu twins, a Kurama, and not one, but two sets of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. If Orochimaru's spy is correct about the Second Round of the Exams, then my collection will increase drastically._

_ "Then there's the two Kumo teams, not a single member of either team is below low B-rank as far as I can tell with their chakra reserves and the nature of their chakra. I'll leave them alone for now. The Iwa team, one of them has the Tsuchikage's granddaughter. I happen to know she has the Youton from one of my spies in Iwa." Kin nodded, knowing how extensive Naruto's spy network had gotten before they became Suna nin and how effective they were because of the info they got while on missions._

_ "Then there's those strange Oto shinobi… unfortunately I can't kill any of them. See how that guy took out that nerdy looking Konoha genin without punching him? It has to do with that gauntlet on his arm, something that I would love to get ahold of." Naruto shook his head and sighed. "The last six teams here are made up of three Yuki squads, who I want because of that village's technology, another team from Taki, and the last two from the Yamigakure (Hidden Darkness) minor village. I think one of those from Yami could make a great collaboration technique with Kage."_

_ The proctor suddenly appeared and scolded the Oto nin with a gauntlet and the glasses-wearing Konoha nin before beginning the First Exam, a written test._

_ Naruto quickly realized he had to cheat in order to get through this portion. He quietly unsealed two small fly puppets from his staff and controlled them with his left hand while closing his eyes. He used the chakra strings to send his sense of eyesight into the flies and quickly found someone who had the answers. He opened his eyes, straining his mind with three points of view, but kept focus regardless and copied the answers before retracting his puppets and resealing them silently._

_ He didn't need to wait long before the proctor announced the tenth question. He went into a lecture about accepting the question. Naruto watched as the room was cut in half from the beginning numbers by those leaving. Naruto shook his head at their stupidity. Didn't these people know that this pitiful sadist held no control in other nations and hidden villages during their Chuunin Exams?_

_ Finally the man announced that everyone left passed. Naruto scanned the room and noticed that that team of rookies that had the Hyuuga, Aburame and Inuzuka was gone. 'That shy kunoichi must've given up.' And one of the Ino-Shika-Cho teams had disappeared. 'That blonde _was _a pretty big fangirl to the Uchiha.' Konoha only had the Uchiha's team,which including a pink-haired girl and a pale-skinned boy, a team with a Hyuuga, a boy wearing green spandex, and a kunoichi with buns of hair, as well as that glasses-wearing freaks team, and two more teams, one with the Kurama girl, a civilian and the Hebi, and one with the Fenikkusu twins plus the Yabun clansman. Oto's team was still in as well. Both Taki teams, plus two of the Yuki teams, both Kumo, all three of the Kiri, four of the seven Iwa teams were left, including the Tsuchikage's granddaughter, both Yami teams, the Uzumaki's and two other Kusa teams, four teams from Ame, and lastly were the Sand Siblings and Naruto's team. That meant there were a total of 28 teams, which equaled to 84 genin left in the Exam for the second round out of over 250 original participants._

_ Suddenly a figure burst through the window with a banner wrapped around her. She released it and hung it with four kunai she threw to the wall and it red 'Introducing the proctor of the Second Chuunin Exam! –the sexy and single Miturashi Anko!'_

_ Naruto studied the jounin-level nin. She wore a fishnet shirt, an orange skirt, a trenchcoat that reached her ankles, had purple hair in a pineapple-ponytail, and was chewing a stick of dango. What really got him though was the high level of dark-natured chakra coming from her neck in waves. 'It's Anko!' he shouted in his head._

_ She was honestly one of his few precious people in Konoha and he would love to spare her, if only she would join him. Her abilities were at least ANBU-level anyways and she would make a fine addition to the team he was gathering._

_ And he had the tools to recruit her. He smirked to himself as she talked to Ibiki about getting 'too soft' and letting 'too many teams through'. Then she boldly announced that she would cut the numbers by at least half._

_**Flashback End**_

With the end of the First Exam, the Suna teams had followed the purple-haired kunoichi to the Forest of Death, proving that Orochimaru's source was reliable.

_**Flashback Continue**_

_ Naruto had his team's Heaven Scroll and was at point as they jumped through the Forest's trees. In two hours, they had run into two giant spiders and a monster centipede, all three of which were in Naruto's staff to be turned into puppets later._

_ Currently, Naruto was following an Ame team who were tracking one of the Yuki teams. When they finally caught the Yuki team, Naruto signaled his team to stop as they watched the battle._

_ The Ame team consisted of a tall boy with white hair and an umbrella, a young woman with blue hair and a pair of katana strapped to her back, and a boy wearing a breathing mask that leaked out some sort of purple mist._

_ The Yuki team had all three of them with some strange armor. The lone male on the squad had a black zanbato strapped to his back, the first kunoichi had a large scroll strapped to her back, and the other kunoichi was carrying a naginata._

_ "Watch them closely, Haku, Kin. We will attack whoever wins and I'll make the strongest of these teams into puppets. Those weapons will be of use. Haku pay close attention to those Yuki nin, they use Hyouton with existing snow or ice, maybe you can recreate some of the jutsu." Haku nodded._

_ The Yuki kunoichi with the scroll unfurled it as the zanbato-wielder rushed the Ame kenjutsu-user and she brought out her swords in an X-formation just in time to block the heavy blade. The umbrella wielder swung his weapon like a club at the wielder of the large club only for it to be blocked by the naginata of the Yuki kunoichi._

_ Naruto watched as the kunoichi with the scroll put chakra inside and studied the seal intently. It had the kanji for 'Snow' within the array and soon it released a whole lot of it over the area, shrouding this part of the forest in white._

_ Seeing this, the umbrella-wielder threw his weapon high and it spun, releasing a rain of thousands of senbon on the Yuki nin. The kunoichi with the scroll flew through handseals as the other two got near her. "Hyouton: Yukijinheki!" (Ice Release: Snow Encampment Wall) A slanting slab of hard-packed snow rose up above the three and no needles that hit the thick wall of snow got through._

_ "She's the defensive-type of their team." Haku pointed out. Naruto nodded and as he watched the naginata-wielder pressed the weapon to the snow wall and ice coated the weapon as the snow wall shrunk at a proportionate rate. The ice crept up the staff of the weapon and solely coated the blade until it extended two feet further and had a serrated edge on one side and a sharpened edge on the other side._

_ The naginata-user jumped over the wall as the needles stopped and easily landed in front of the unarmed umbrella-user and impaled him through the gut, letting him fall to his knees and blood pour out of the gaping hole in his gut after she removed the naginata. The zanbato-user kawarimied with his teammate just as she was about to be decapitated by the katana-wielder and blocked both blades with his large, clever-like sword._

_ The Ame nin with the mask finally acted and undid his breathing mask to reveal a mouth with rotted teeth that emitted a thick, purple mist with every breath…_

_ The zanbato-user was defenseless before the Ame nin's toxic breath as it hit his back and began melting the shirt off his back, then his flesh, and finally even his bones. He let loose a shrill, agonized scream at the painful torture he was feeling as the acidic mist attacked his nervous system causing terrifying agony to him as he died slowly by having his lungs and heart slowl melted into nothing but liquid._

_ The naginata-wielder gasped and glared angrily, flipping through handsigns. "Hyouton: Yukiryuudan!" (Ice Release: Snow Dragon Missile) A dragon formed out of the snow and shot toward the two Ame nin. The acid breather easily jumped away, but the other one was crushed in the snow by immense pressure of the snow._

_ Naruto looked at Kin and signaled her before pointing at the poison breather. She nodded and went through handsigns. "Nehan Shouja no Jutsu!" (Temple of Nirvana Technique) Feathers fell over the area but Kin quickly made more handseals, adding a layer to the genjutsu. "Yasui Kyogi no Jutsu!" (Silent Deception Technique) The second layer hid the feathers from sight of the nins below and they soon fell asleep._

_ Naruto jumped to the ground soon followed by his teammates. Five Kage Bunshin were quickly made and they went around gathering the supplies of everyone. Naruto went to the poison breather and thrust a kunai through his heart._

_ Then he went over to the two Yuki nins and did the same thing, sealing their bodies and possessions as well. He grinned at the fruits of their labor, two Earth scrolls. "What do we do with the second scroll, Naruto?" the blonde thought for a second before sealing the two new scrolls in his staff along with the first one they had. _

"_Let's see if it has any use." Naruto reasoned._

_His teammates nodded and they left through the trees. In the next three days the team took out one of the Yami teams, the Kiri team with all subelement users, the Konoha team that had the Kurama and Hebi on it, and finally two of the Iwa teams and one Kumo team that had been in a six-on-three battle. On that first day they had felt a dark energy source, which Naruto told them was Orochimaru doing his thing with the Uchiha, and they agreed to stay far away from that area._

_Now, on day four of the Second Exam, they were sprinting through the trees as Naruto heard a scream. He usually would've ignored it, if not for one fact. The chakra signature it belonged to was eerily familiar so he changed the teams direction and came across that redhead he had assumed was an Uzumaki with both her teammates dead surrounded on all sides by the third of the Iwa teams. It was an all-male team and they had a look in their eyes that meant one thing._

_They wanted to rape her before they killed her._

_Naruto send a surge of chakra into his staff and out popped one of the subelement-users from Kiri. This one was from a clan with the ability to use the Koton (Light Release) which was Raiton's ultimate form created through the massive concentration of Yang energy within the Hikari clan's body due to their kekkai genkai._

_Naruto controlled the corpse and sent it at them, having it perform handseals. "Koton: Ya no Hikari Rendan!" (Light Release: Light Arrow Barrage) Fifty arrows materialized out of the surrounding light and launched themselves at the Iwa nin, killing them and leaving the redhead unscathed._

_Naruto retracted his puppet, sealed it, and jumped down in front of the girl. "Are you alright?" He asked her and she nodded shakily. Naruto them smiled to her "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, by the way!" he introduced himself cheerily._

_The girl gasped and took a step back. "Y-you're an Uzumaki? I thought I was the last one!" She looked at Naruto as if he was the only person in the world. "M-my name is Karin, Uzumaki Karin." Naruto grinned at her._

"_Nice to meet you Karin-chan." The redheaded girl smiled at him. "Too bad about your team though…" she waved his concern off._

"_Don't feel bad for them, I hated them. Everyone in Kusa insulted me and my hair. All the guys only wanted to get in my bed and the girls would gang up on me until I was bruised all over. Only my Uzumaki healing kept me alive up until this point." Naruto smiled at her._

"_Not to worry Karin-chan. Any Uzumaki knows that there is nothing more important than family. I'll keep those Kusa scum away from you and yo0u can come with me back to Suna. Dattebayo." Naruto cursed himself inwardly for using the verbal tick he had as a child, but he couldn't help it. He was so excited. He had found another Uzumaki! He knew she wasn't lying because his Negative Emotion Sense acted as a natural polygraph._

_The girl had teary eyes. "Arigato… Naruto-niisan!" She tackled him in a hug._

_**Flashback End**_

Following the sealing of bodies and equipment within his staff, Naruto, his team, and Karin headed for the tower in the center of the Forest. They got there no problem whatsoever. When they were heading through the trees Naruto spied a few of the teams attempting to get scrolls. Having eleven scrolls for his team, five Heaven and six Earth, he was positive the competition was sorely lacking.

When they got there and figured out to open the scrolls, Naruto and Haku opened up one pair of the scrolls and threw the Heaven and Earth scrolls on the floor in an X-formation and smoke appeared. When it dispersed Sasori appeared before them. He had seen the extra person and raised an eyebrow.

Naruto had explained the whole ordeal and told him about her strange healing ability and the ex-redhead had relented. Team 17 found rooms, Karin with Kin and Naruto with Haku, and used the remaining 30+ hours of the Second Exam differently.

Kin had spent the day with Temari sparring in one of the Tower's dojo.

Haku and Gaara found a private dojo and attempted to refine their Senbonzakura and Sokonashi no Yaiba techniques a little more.

Kankuro spent the whole time sleeping, having let Gaara take care of everything during the Second Exam.

Lastly, Karin stayed with her newly named 'niisan' as he turned the Hikari clan member into a puppet he named after said clan. Hikari had three metal wolf tailes covered in reinforced chakra metal mirrors as well as a customized reflective glass cannon in either palm to enhance the brightness of light in an area and make his attacks more effective.

And now today was the end of the Third Exams. Sasuke and his team as well as the glasses-wearing freak from the First Exam and his team, had arrived a few minutes ago. Naruto felt the dark energy of Orochimaru's Curse Seal radiating off of him with his sensing abilities. He looked up at Karin, who was standing next to Sasori with the other senseis, and saw she sensed it as well.

Naruto took the time to see who had made it. The Sand Siblings, the Uchiha's team, the glasses-wearing freak's team, the Konoha team with the Hyuuga, bun-haired girl, and Hyuuga, the Iwa team with the Tsuchikage's granddaughter, the Oto team, and Naruto's team.

Naruto then stopped his thinking as he spied the Hokage standing to speak. When he heard the _real _reason for the Chuunin Exams he wasn't entirely surprised. The Elemental Nations were greedy and a war-mongering place. They needed a shaky alliance to keep the supposed 'peace' of the world. Naruto shook his head.

Then a jounin landed in front of the Sandaime and convinced him to be the one to talk about the Third Exam.

When Naruto heard about Preliminaries being held now, he couldn't help but grin. _'Perfect chance to test out one of my puppets against someone. I hope I get someone strong.' _

Naruto then felt eyes on him and he turned to see Fuu, the green-haired girl, looking at him. That sent him back to yesterday.

_**Flashback**_

_ Naruto traversed the hallways of the Tower for a specific target. He somehow was alone without Karin in sight. He had grown attached to that girl, but she really was clingy. The redhead could only imagine what would happen if she was romantically interested in him. That might get annoying. (Somewhere in canon Naruto, Sasuke sneezed violently)_

_ He was shaken from his thoughts as he found his target. Walking right up to the lone green-haired teenage girl, Naruto stood in front of her as she sat on the floor of a dojo by herself. Not another soul in sight._

_ Kneeling down, he looked into her eyes. "Hey, you shouldn't be all alone." She leaned back against the wall more, startled by his sudden appearance. _

_ "Just leave me alone." She emotionlessly said._

_ "Don't be like that. I know you hate humans with a passion, but you don't have to be like that. After all… I'm exactly like you."_

_ She scoffed at that notion. "I doubt it. You've got no idea…"_

_ "What it's like to be a jinchuuriki? To be isolated? To be beaten daily at a young age wondering why? To have multiple assassination attempts on me, only to have the source of all the pain to be the sole person who heals and looks after me?" the girl gasped and with each sentence, her eyes widened more._

_ "Y-you… how?"_

_ "I'm nine." Naruto said simply. "Call me Uzumaki Naruto."_

_ She nodded. "Seven, and my name is Fuu." Naruto gave her a foxy grin and sat next to her. Over the next few hours, they talked and swapped their life stories, not holding back any of the pain at all._

_**Flashback End**_

The screen above finally landed on _Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akadou Yoroi. _Everyone else headed to the balcony. Team 17, Sasori, Karin, and Fuu stood on one side. Fuu and Karin were both close to Naruto, showing sisterly affection to him. The Sand Siblings and Baki were also by Team 17.

Naruto couldn't quite figure out why Temari and Kin were releasing KI on his red and green-haired nee-chans. Maybe it was a weird girl thing? Whatever.

The Kyuubi jinchuuriki looked on at Sasuke's match in interest to see of this 'great Uchiha' was anything special. With that, Hayate announced 'Hajime!' and the Preliminaries begun.

_Original Jutsu_

_Hyouton: Yukijinheki! (Ice Release: Snow Encampment Wall)- A defensive wall of surrounding snow is formed. B-rank._

_Hyouton: Yukiryuudan (Ice Release: Snow Dragon Missile) Creates a dragon shaped projectile of surrounding snow and launches it at opponent. A-rank._

_Yasui Kyogi no Jutsu (Silent Deception Technique) A genjutsu that is used as a second layer over another genjutsu to hide anything the first layer might show as part of it. D-rank._

_Koton: Ya no Hikari Rendan (Light Release: Light Arrow Barrage) Solidify and shape surrounding light into arrows and shoots them off at a target at the speed of light._

**Behold the power of the almighty Cliffhanger no Jutsu! Anyways… I just wanted to skip right through the first and second rounds of the Chuunin Exams, so I used a flashback. Next chapter is the first part of the preliminaries.**

**And also, in here, Kabuto actually does a bit of fighting in the preliminaries, because I wanted to have a match with the medic nin. That's why he didn't forfeit earlier.**

**R&R! Until next time, Orpheus out!**


	9. Chapter IX

**Naruto of the Red Sands**

**Chapter IX**

**And here you go! First bit of the Chuunin Exam Preliminaries! Now I'm going to say this now, if it happened in canon, I'm not writing it out because you already know how it went.**

**And I seem to have made a mistake on the last chapter. I included Fuu but not her team, sorry. Fuu's team is in the Preliminaries, just so you guys know.**

**Guest: I'm not thinking of making a harem, just a mini-harem with two (possibly three) people. Although your ideas are interesting and I may use them.**

**Peter Kim: You'll have to wait and see if they meet.**

**Leez: I'm still figuring that out. Should I make it a mini-harem? I guess I will add a poll on my profile.**

**Disclaimer: Do you see Naruto using puppets in canon? No? Then I don't own it.**

Naruto watched Sasuke's fight in slight interest. _'The Curse Mark was screwing with his chakra… almost like there was a sudden surge of Yamiton (Dark Release) chakra every time he tried moulding any. Interesting…" _Naruto thought and figured that he should try and get a look at that juin (Curse Seal) sometime soon and alter it. Having a puppet with Dark release chakra would be very useful.

Then the Uchiha's sensei took him and left. _'Perhaps to block that Curse Seal?' _The board began spinning and eventually stopped on Sabaku no Kankuro and Tsurugi Misumi. _'Tsurugi? That's a minor Konoha clan… what could they do again?' _Naruto watched the short match take place.

It was impressive that Kankuro didn't really show anyone anything about his skills. Most of the shinobi watching probably assumed he was barely low C-rank based on that display, but Naruto knew better. _'Smart, Kankuro. Not letting anyone know and then get even more powerful by the Third Round and completely destroy your competition._

The proctor called off the names of the third match. "Haruno Sakura vs. Abumi Zaku!" Naruto watched the two hit the floor in curiosity.

The pink-haired Konoha nin has extremely low chakra reserves. _'How is she even a genin?' _Naruto wondered. She was a fangirl on top of all of that, so Zaku would have little trouble disposing of her. But… there was the little nuisance of him having a broken arm. He'd probably still win. _'What the hell happened in the Forest?' _

"Hajime!" The redhead ignored that thought and watched the match with minimal interest.

"You're in for it now, girly!" Zaku told her. "I may have a broken arm from that damned Uchiha-teme, but that's all I need to beat you!" Sakura looked absolutely terrified of fighting the guy in front of her.

"I can't lose here! Sasuke-kun is counting on me!" She exclaimed and threw five kunai at Zaku, who simply jumped over them with a smirk and landed five feet from her. He lifted his good arm at her. _"Zankuuha!" (Decapitating Airwaves) _Sakura tried jumping to the side but was too slow and the sudden burst of air pressure hit her foot, knocking her off course and she spun into a wall before hitting the floor with a thud. Zaku grinned evilly.

"This is going to be fun." The Oto nin commented before pulling out a kunai of his own and looking at the fangirl getting up to her hands and knees. Zaku threw his kunai and it barely grazed the back of her neck before sticking in the wall behind her. The pinkette's eyes grew wide and nearly had a heart attack from what just happened. She stood up and saw her grinning opponent. "See how easily I could kill you?" He taunted while holding two kunai in one hand.

The civilian-born kunoichi steeled her gaze at him, pulling out shuriken and tossed two waves of kunai at him, sending twelve at once racing towards him. Zaku smirked and all of the shuriken merely passed through him before the image distorted and poofed out of existence. Then she felt something in her back where her left lung was and something else in between her ribs where she knew her stomach was located. Then she registered the massive pain.

Sakura fell to her hands and knees, screaming in absolute pain as she began to bleed internally. "I for-" She tried to give in but was caught off by a shout of _"Zankuukyokuha" (Extreme Decapitating Airwaves) _She was flung completely across the arena and into the statue at the front. She hit the ground once more and didn't get back up. The pinkette's body was battered, bruised, bloody, and broken. Her hair was disheveled. Her right leg was bent backwards at the knee, as was her left arm at the elbow. One of her eyes was blacked and her nose was obviously broken. Her clothes were torn and there were shallow gashes all over her torse, legs, arms, and face. She wouldn't be getting up soon.

Zaku grinned sadistically. "Not so tough without that Uchiha protecting you, eh? Where is he now? Nowhere near, you damn whore! The world of shinobi is ruthless, bitch. Don't forget it. And remember, you try to get in the way of someone stronger, and they'll take you out one of two ways, ruthlessly quick or tortuously slow!"

The proctor finally called the match. "Winner *cough* Abumi Zaku!" Medics visited the field and took the unconscious pinkette away and Zaku walked back to the Oto group.

Naruto nodded in agreement with Zaku's final words. It was only too true in this day and age. Personally, Naruto liked to go for quick, unless his opponent made him mad, then he would put them through immense pain. He payed attention to the board for the next match, waiting to analyze his enemies.

"Sabaku no Temari and Tenten please come to the floor." Temari and Tenten both jumped down to the floor at the same time and the proctor nodded. "Hajime!" and then he shunshined to next to the Hokage.

Tenten automatically jumped back and launched a flurry of shuriken and kunai at the blonde. Then her eyes widened as she saw them miss.

Lee and Neji looked on in amazement at what just happened. "G-Gai-sensei…" Lee said. "Tenten missed! She never misses!" the older green-clad male nodded to his favorite student.

"Watch closely, Lee. And Neji, use your Byakugan. You will see this kunoichi truly has the Flames of Youth!"

Neji nodded and thought _'Byakugan' _watching closely on the blonde girl.

Said blonde was smirking as she stood in the same place as the opposing kunoichi attempted to hit her once with her many bladed weapons. Temari was constantly letting a minimal amount of Futon chakra out of her body in certain directions and it served to slightly alter the ninja tools trajectory enough to pass right by her. _'Thanks, Pakura-sensei.' _She thought as she remembered the green and orange-haired woman had forced them to practice an exercise like this every single day for ten minutes.

"Is that all, Panda-chan?" Temari asked the girl, insulting her hairstyle.

Tenten was completely enraged at this whole development. She never missed, EVER! And yet… this girl had to be doing something. She just had to! Tenten then thought and made up her mind. She pulled out two storage scrolls and readied her most powerful attack.

"Guy-sensei, how can Tenten miss all of those?" Lee asked as Tenten pulled out her two scrolls.

Neji answered the boy. "Tenten's not missing. The blonde girl is constantly releasing white chakra, that's Wind natured, I believe. Anyways, it's knocking the weapons off-balance just at the last instant, steering them off course." Lee's eyes widened.

"Yosh, that is so youthful! To have elemental chakra at our age, that is most impressive!"

Gai nodded and smiled brightly at his look-alike.

Temari finally pulled her closed battle fan off her back and sighed boredly at her opponent. After that last attack with the two scrolls and all those weapons, Temari was disappointed. "A weapon specialist, through and through. You shouldn't focus on just one thing, baka. It means if you ever meet someone like me, you'll lose for sure." Temari shook her head and then grinned. "Let me show you how you really use storage seals and weapons."

Temari opened up her large fan to show the group all the seal arrays inscribed on it. "My friend is a fuinjutsu master and helped me out. After all, what is an Uzumaki if not an automatic seal genius?" The audience was silent.

"Sandaime-sama…" Hayate said from next to the Hokage, who nodded.

"I know, Hayate-kun, but my hands are tied. At his age being known as a seal master though… we truly have lost a powerful shinobi."

Meanwhile, on the Sandaime's other side, Anko was having different thoughts. _'The gakis a seal master? Could he…?' _She grabbed her neck, which had just flared briefly in pain. _'I'd give anything to be rid of that hebi-teme pedophile's clutches.' _

"Are you really a seal master, Naruto-nee?" Karin asked her newly found brother figure. He smiled at her and nodded.

"Of course. Not compared to any Uzumakis beack before the destruction of Uzu, but I'm definitely better than even Jiraiya of the Sannin." The redhead's eyes bulged. "Now watch Temari, neechan, I helped her develop this move myself."

Temari gripped her fully opened fan and one of the seals glowed. She swung the fan towards Tenten and as the wind picked up, one hundred kunai shot out of the fan. _"Dai Uzukou Kachuu!" (Great Whirling Steel Vortex) _The kunai traveled with the wind in a twister around Tenten, both the ferocious tornado and the sharp kunai cutting into her skin until the winds finally died down to show the bleeding form of Tenten on her hands and knees, refusing to lie down. "That's admirable, Tenten-san. Your only the second serious kunoichi our age that I've met. For that, I will do you a mercy." Temari disappeared in a swirl of wind and appeared above Tenten, fan now closed, and hit the back of her head. The genin weapon specialist was out cold.

The blonde looked over her shoulder up at the Suna team, but more importantly, at Naruto, who was flashing her that wonderful foxy grin she loved so much. Temari smiled back at him. "Winner, Subaku no Temari!" Hayate announced after he hopped back down to the field. Medics gathered Tenten and Temari was gone in a Kaze Shunshin, next to Naruto.

The redhead puppet user smiled at Temari as she arrived back in the balcony. "Great job, Mari-chan!" He congratulated her. "That was amazing. She didn't even know what hit her."

Temari had an unnoticeable blush on her face and smiled back at the redhead. "Thanks, Naruto-kun. It's thanks to those seals you put on my fan. You were right about how well they would work, too." Naruto grinned foxily at her.

"I'm an Uzumaki, aren't I?"

"True." The blonde replied before they heard the proctor again.

The board stopped on two more names. _Kabuto vs. Shogunmono Subeta. _The two stepped down and Kabuto studied his opponent. She was about two inches shorter than him with skin dark enough for Kumo, raven colored hair and blue eyes bright as the sky. She was also wearing a black battle kimono with a blue swirl design, had on a camo scarf that covered the bottom half of her face, an Oto hitai-ite around her forehead, and had a large, black zanbato with a silver edge and two holes on it near the hilt, one above the other with a red hilt and gold plating on the bottome of the blade, strapped diagonally across her back.

"Hajime!" Hayate jumped back out of the crossfire.

Subeta looked at her nerdy opponent and jumped back, pulling out her sword. "You can't win, geek. I'm the top genin in Oto." She said and rested the flat of the blade on her shoulder. "But go ahead, entertain me." Kabuto smirked and shunshined behind her, intent on stabbing her back. He didn't count on her reaction being fast enough to block the kunai and then kicking him back a few feet.

"One." She said and surged her chakra into her sword, causing a seal to glow on it and a small portion of her zanbato to break off, which she stabbed into the ground. The blade came off from the bottom and was about eighteen inches and looked like a hunting knife with a handle that could be turned in 360 degrees around a mechanism at the base of the blade.

"Why are you…?"

Kabuto didn't finish as she was already dashing for him. Kabuto cursed under his breath and formed a chakra scalpel, parrying the horizontal slash his way. Subeta spun on one foot and then swung diagonally downwards at the nerdy looking shinobi, who jumped back. As he landed, another blade identical to the one she had stabbed into the ground earlier grazed his left arm and embedded into the wall behind him. "Two." She said.

Kabuto looked at her and dispersed his scalpel to heal the shallow wound. Then he took out two kunai, watching the blade, that now resembled a broadsword from the Western Lands, warily. The silver-haired medic ran at her, tossing one kunai, hat she swatted to the side, and slashing downward with his remaining kunai from a jump. What he didn't predict, but probably should've, was the right side of her strange blade to detach and block his kunai. This blade had was slightly wider than a katana with notches along the flat side of it, one of which was holding Kabuto's kunai. She kicked the silver-haired nin in the chest and he flew back ten feet before she spun her smaller blade once and then stabbed it into the ground. "Three." She said emotionlessly. Her sword was now half the size of before and she detached the left side, which was what looked to be double the width of a katana and as long as her zanbato's blade was originally with a section of eight inches missing on the bottom of the right side of its blade, where a wooden handle was instead.

Kabuto looked at her and threw his other kunai, which she deflected easily. He ran at her with a chakra scalpel and swiped at her. She blocked his attacks easily and jumped up to kick him in the bottom of the chin, sending the medic flying. She stabbed the strange sword with the handle on the side of the blade into the ground. "Four."

Then she threw her final one, that now looked like a longsword, at Kabuto and it passed behind him. She fazed out of existence and reappeared where the blade was, axkicking him to the ground, and she stabbed the sword into his hand. She reappeared next to her 'fourth blade' and grabbed it, before teleporting towards another one, slashing Kabuto on the way. She continued this on and on eight times before she had all the swords stabbed into Kabuto, one in each palm, one in each leg, and one of the hunting knife ones held against his throat. _"Goyaiba Ryuu: Omnislash San no Han!" (Five Blade Style: Omnislash Version Three) _She shouted at the end.

Haku was wide eyed. "N-no way! She has one of _his _swords?"

Naruto and Gaara look back at the ice-user. "Whose swords, Haku?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto-sama… there was once in a time long past a hero with a sword tall as himself. It was said that he could use all elements when he used his most powerful sword, but his greatest technique… was the Omnislash. There were a total of eight versions, one for each of his swords. It was also fabled that one of his swords was able to use more than just it's version. But… the hero passed down his eight blades to his four children and four students. The one that that girl holds, that was the greatest of the weapons and was through the children of his oldest child. She is the heir to the clans of Strife and Lockhart…"

Yugao was having similar thoughts. _'One of the swords of the ancient hero and kenjutsu master? Amazing that there is so much talent this early on in the Preliminaries.'_

Hayate shook himself from the stupor he was in and called it. "Winner, Shogunmono Subeta!"

The board came up and showed the next match. Uzumaki _Naruto vs. Shinzou Kurochi_

Kurochi jumped down to the arena and once Naruto used his Kaze Shunshin to go down, he studied his opponent. The boy was tall, and looked to be fourteen. He had a bowl cut of jet black hair with blood red streaks and deep, crimson eyes. Around his neck was a red hitai-ite of Iwa and he wore ANBU-style pants, black shinobi sandals, a short-sleeved black shirt and fishnet over his shirt. Around his waist was a total of four tantos, two on either hip, plus two katana in an X-formation strapped to his back.

"Hajime!"

Naruto pushed chakra through his staff to create his naginata-scythe and rushed his opponent. He swung his naginata horizontally and the other boy smirked and caught it. _'Shit! I knew I shouldn't have kept these gravity seals on.' _He was amazed though by what happened next. Kurochi swiped his free hand across the blade and jumped back, allowing the blood to flow freely to the floor. He performed a few handsigns, and shouted. _"Ketton: Chi Senbon!" (Blood Release: Blood Needles) _The puddle of blood at Kurochi's feet and whatever was dripping from his hand took to the air behind him and formed over two hundred senbon that were aimed at Naruto.

"Oh, that's a rare bloodline… I think I'd like you for my collection." Naruto said with a mad grin and surged chakra through his staff, causing two puppets to appear. Hikari was one of them, the other Kage. Naruto's eyes glinted and he caught them in chakra strings while he held onto his staff with another one and from behind his cloak, his metallic tail came forth.

Kurochi smirked and sent his needles out. Kage's eyes went from the level one Kurogan to level two, which turned the iris pure black and the sclera a deep violet as the shadows swirled. _"Kageyochi Kurogan: Daikageheki." (Shadow World's Dark Eye: Great Wall of Shadows) _The shadows in front of Naruto and his puppets darkened immeasurably and rose up to block the blood needles. Naruto smirked.

The entirety of the Konoha nin were speechless. "Hokage-sama?" One of the ANBU asked. This one had on a full black mask. "Does he have a…?"

The Hokage nodded sadly. "Yes, he does. He has a Yabun puppet with a level two Kurogan. This does not bode well."

Naruto, from behind the wall, had Hikari rise up high and begin to spin in a blur. Her hands were aimed at an angle towards the ground and then suddenly glass shards shot out from her palms, scattering reflective glass all over the field. Kurochi, thinking this was an attack, dodged all of the shards.

Kage let down the wall and Naruto smirked from where he was. "Behold, the power of puppetry!" Naruto called out and Hikari flew through handseals as well as Kage. _"Koton: Koeisha Kikan!" (Light Release: Light Reflecting Mirrors) _Hikari created a beam of light from her left index finger that hit one mirror, then reflected to another, and another. Pretty soon, the lights created a web between the many mirrors.

Kurochi looked at them warily and created a single blood senbon. When it hit the light, it completely disintegrated. "Don't want to be hit by that…" Kage finished his seals and the shadows on the floor thinned out to tendrils and began shaping into what seemed to be a… seal!

It had surrounded Kurochi and had the Kanji for 'Void', 'Transport', and 'Hold' in it. The array surrounding it was the most complex thing most non-fuinjutsu users had ever seen. Naruto shouted _"Uzumaki Kugutsu Fuinjutsu: Kage Tsuihou!" (Uzumaki Puppet Seal Technique: Shadow Exile) _The shadow wrapped the opposing genin up in a cocoon before condensing into nothingness. With a flash of light, Hikari's web of light disappeared as well and Naruto pulled his puppets back into his staff and looked at the proctor.

The crowd was silent as they watched in awe at Naruto's accomplishment.

'_S-such mastery of fuinjutsu at a young age.'_

'_Amazing niisan!'_

'_That's my Naru-kun!'_

'_I'm definitely talking to him about that snake's Curse Seal'_

'_What have we done, losing such a genius shinobi…'_

Those were the thoughts of the ninja in the balcony at the end of the match. Hayate finally spoke up. "W-winner, Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto nodded and was about to head up to the balcony when he heard someone shout behind him. He turned to see the pink-eyed, dark-haired granddaughter of the Tsuchikage looking at him.

"What did you do with Kurochi!" She demanded. Naruto smiled foxily at the girl

"Do you know the principles of a storage scroll? What happens when you have the storage seal somewhere that's not a scroll? He's exiled right now. Exiled from this plane of existence. He could be in another dimension right now, or he could be somewhere else. Who knows?" _'Except me… I know exactly where he is.' _

The Iwa kunoichi spluttered and then glared at him. "You killed him!"

"This is the world of shinobi, people die all the time. Get over it." Naruto replied coldly before shunshining back up to the balcony, awaiting the next match.

_Original Jutsu_

_Dai Uzukou Kachuu (Great Whirling Steel Vortex) One of the storage seals on Temari's fan activates, releasing 100 kunai as she swings her fan. The wind from her battle fan then sends the kunai straight towards a target before becoming a twister. The kunai travel on the winds of the twister, creating a vortex of steel that cuts into its target along with the winds themselves. A-rank._

_Goyaiba Ryuu: Omnislash San no Han (Five Blades Style: Omnislash Version Three)Using the Shogunmono clan sword's special attribute of the wielder being able to teleport between the blades, the user of this technique constantly slashes using the blades before stabbing a blade in each of the target's limbs and holds one of the smaller swords to their neck. A-Rank._

"_Ketton: Chi Senbon!" (Blood Release: Blood Needles)Blood in the surrounding area is manipulated in the shape of needles and sent at a target. C-Rank_

"_Kageyochi Kurogan: Daikageheki." (Shadow World's Dark Eye: Great Wall of Shadows) Surrounding shadows are thickened by the ability of the Kageyochi Kurogan and then rise up to become a powerful wall that nothing but a concentration of light can get rid of._

"_Koton: Koeisha Kikan!" (Light Release: Light Reflecting Mirrors) A single beam of light in reflected off various mirrors, creating of web of superconcentrated illumination that becomes hot enough at all parts to melt steel, evaporate liquid, and give third degree burns to flesh._

"_Uzumaki Kugutsu Fuinjutsu: Kage Tsuihou!" (Uzumaki Puppet Seal Technique: Shadow Exile)Using Kage's Kageyochi Kurogan, Naruto controls shadows to create a complex seal on the ground. The Shadow Exile is a large, complex array with the kanji for 'Void', 'Transport', and 'Hold' in the center. Hold paralyzes the target, Void acts as a storage seal, and Transport teleports the target to wherever Naruto wishes as long as he's been there once before, even inside another seal. Advanced Level Seal._

**And that's chapter end! What'd you think? I hope I did well on the fights?**

**Subeta's sword is Cloud's Buster Sword from Advent Children, Google it if you can't picture the individual blades.**

**A Cookie (free spoiler on any of my stories you choose) to whoever correctly guesses where Kurochi was 'exiled' to first in a review.**

**The fights are short, yes, but only because of how lopsided the power levels are between opponents.**

**As I said, there is a poll on my profile page for whether or not Fuu should be paired with Naruto. She is the final option in the 'mini-harem' and no one else in the Narutoverse will be paired with him.**

**Don't forget to R&R!**

**Until next time, Orpheus out!**


	10. Chapter X

**Naruto of the Red Sands**

**Chapter X**

**Tetris Lame: While what you say might be true, he can only use the Shadow Exile seal while using his Kage puppet, as it is strictly made using shadows in ways that only the Kageyochi Kurogan or the highest level of the Kurogan, the Oni no Kurogan (Demon's Dark Eye) can manipulate them. Plus it takes a while to make the seal itself, because its so complex. So no Shadow Hiraishin.**

_"What did you do with Kurochi!" She demanded. Naruto smiled foxily at the girl_

"_Do you know the principles of a storage scroll? What happens when you have the storage seal somewhere that's not a scroll? He's exiled right now. Exiled from this plane of existence. He could be in another dimension right now, or he could be somewhere else. Who knows?" 'Except me… I know exactly where he is.' _

_The Iwa kunoichi spluttered and then glared at him. "You killed him!"_

"_This is the world of shinobi, people die all the time. Get over it." Naruto replied coldly before shunshining back up to the balcony, awaiting the next match._

Naruto kept his eyes on the board as the next matchup came _Tsuchi Kin vs. Sai._

The two combatants made their way to the arena. Sai went silently and Kin left after Naruto wished her good luck. "Hajime!" Hayate said before jumping back.

The two chuunin-hopefuls jumped back and instantly flew through handseals. _"Doton: Nami no Iwa!" (Earth Release: Rock Wave) " Heki no Sumi!"(Wall of Ink)_

Kin rose a wave of the arena floor by pounding her Doton chakra-laced palms onto the ground while Sai smashed an ink bottle onto the ground that rose up as a wall, stopping the rock wave. Kin then threw all four of her fans, controlling them with chakra strings made out of Fuuton chakra, making the fans razor-sharp with a shimmering white aura surrounding them. While she used her left hand to do that, her other hand had a brown chakra string out of each finger (due to being made of Doton chakra) that were embedded into the ground.

Sai ducked under the first fan and spun around two more. Then he dodge rolled to get away from all four descending at once. A spin to the left avoided him losing his head, though the fan still nicked his neck shallowly. He pulled out his tanto and ducked yet another fan before swatting another to the side. The ROOT-member had no choice and back handsprung away from the trio of razor fans that targeted him and pulled out a premade scroll. _"Sumi Senbon Rendan!" (Ink Needle Barrage)_

He pointed to the scroll towards the incoming projectiles and thousands of black needles shot from it, the fans dropped to the ground as Kin had to focus on getting away. With a furious growl, she sent out her left handed chakra strings and attached them to Sai's right arm while still midair. She jerked towards herself and he flew towards her, where she gave him a hard kick to the nose, sending him flying back towards another wall. She gathered her fan's with chakra strings once again and retracted her Doton chakra strings, pulling out a large spiked ball of stone. She grinned menacingly at the now recovered Sai and he didn't like the glint in her eyes.

Quickly, he pulled out a storage scroll and unsealed a bit of the ink within, creating a katana of said ink as he pulled out his ROOT-issued tanto. Four fans were sent his way and he had to dodge them repeatedly and finally got within ten feet of the girl. That's when she swung her right arm heavily, and the giant stone mace followed the movement, creating a large crater in the ground where a log lay in Sai's place.

The ink-user had wide eyes. She had not one, but two elemental affinities and they were used in tandem, this was her fighting style apparently. His thoughts were interrupted as he jumped again to avoid the fans, only to be smacked with the rock mace and sent flying into the arena wall. _"Danzo-taicho said I could only appear to be mid-chuunin during these exams. She is at least low-jounin with those strings, if not higher.' _Sai thought as he stood back up.

Kin then retracted her weapons, fans finding their way to her belt and the spiked mace of earth landed next to her as she placed her hands in a single seal and spoke _"Yomi no Hinote!" (Flames of Hell)_

A large black ball of fire appeared from nowhere and surrounded Sai, who showed no emotion but fell to his hands and knees. The pain was immense! As if the fire was incinerating his bones and muscles themselves! His resolve was quickly dissipating as he felt his flesh being melted from his bones, he could feel his skin dripping like wax to the stone floor. Every fiber of his being was screaming in agony and soon he found the blissful peace of unconsciousness.

As soon as the pale boy hit the floor, Kin released her handseal, and her genjutsu immediately lifted. Hayate sighed. _'These Suna nin are monsters! They're taking out all of the Konoha genin like they're nothing!" _"Winner, Tsuchi Kin!" He announced and she shunshined away as her stone mace dissolved into the ground. "We will have a five minute break while the arena is…" he looked around at the destruction of the last match. "repaired…" Hayate shunshined next to the Hokage while two chuunin came out and began using Doton jutsu to fix the floor and walls from the previous six matches.

"What do you think, Hokage-sama?" Hayate asked the village leader through coughs.

The old man rubbed his chin thoughtfully, gone was the old, grandfatherly man, and in his place was the analytical gaze of 'The Professor'. "These Suna genin are something else. I am looking forward to the two battles from them." He looked at Anko, who nodded at his discreet signal and left to send a message to the ANBU in charge of the match board.

Kakashi had gotten back to watch the last two matches and was impressed. None of his students were present anymore, but it wouldn't hurt to study Sasuke's competition. "So… according to Gai, so far Sasuke, a puppet-using fuinjutsu master, a fan-user, a ninjutsu/genjutsu/chakra string fighter and a kenjutsu specialist are in. From what I've seen, Kushina's son has two very strong puppets, the use of fuinjutsu in battle, and that strange naginata-scythe hybrid weapon. His teammate is able to utilize both Wind and Earth-natured chakra, at least one A-rank genjutsu, as well as those elemental chakra strings for her attacks. And there is also that kenjutsu master with a sword capable of a weaker variation of sensei's Hiraishin. I'm in for a _long _training with Sasuke."

Neji was impressed with that Kin girl. The chakra required for what she did that whole battle was on par with Hyuuga-level, and it looked like she didn't even bat an eye doing it. He just had to make sure he didn't get caught against her in the Finals. Her entire style kept any opponent far away, and his style required he be in close-range. That would be a brutal defeat, even he knew that.

His thoughts were interrupted by various shouts of "Youth" and he blocked off his hearing with chakra. _'Tenten was a genius for coming up with that. I'll have to thank her later.'_

Dosu, Subeta, and Zaku were impressed. Dosu said what they were all thinking as their 'sensei', who was actually Orochimaru in disguise, stood behind them. "We're lucky that we don't have them as enemies. And the last two haven't even fought." The other two Oto nin nodded.

Kurotsuchi was furious! These damn Suna nin were wiping the floor! She was probably going to kill whoever her opponent was. ESPECIALLY if it was one of the last two Suna nin.

The other Iwa genin and Kurotsuchi's sensei took a step back as the girl exuded KI and unconsciously channeled Youton chakra, melting the railing she was gripping tightly.

The two Taki genin on Fuu's team were speechless. "These Suna nin are freakin' strong!" One said in fear. He was tall with spiked white hair, dark brown eyes, tan skin, and wore a black shirt with fishnet over it, ANBU pants, and a straw hat with the Taki hitai-ite strapped to his neck. This was Tsufu Shinji, member of the Harigan (needle eye) using Tsufu clan of Taki.

The other had pale silver hair tied in a topknot with stormy grey eyes and a scar from just above his left eye to below his left earlobe. He was dressed in a tight grey shirt, black pants, and a knee-length trench coat of pitch black with a scythe strapped to his back. This genin was the last living user of the Kansuiton (Brine Release), Shio Shinsui was only member of the newly formed clan of the same surname in Taki. "No kidding. And they're friendly with the Demon! If we upset her…"

Shinji paled at that thought and the two sent a wary glance at Fuu before focusing on waiting for the field to be repaired.

"Great job, Kin-chan!" Naruto said as Kin shunshined back up to the balcony. Kin smiled at the redhead, who was grinning foxily.

Temari was glaring at the raven-haired girl. "You were holding out on me? We agreed to go all-out during spars and you pull that mace out of your sleeve?" Kin grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head, a characteristic she picked up from Naruto.

"Uh… sorry?" Temari scoffed and then grinned.

"I just want you to use those techniques in our next match. And hopefully we'll fight in the Third Exam." Kin smiled at that prospect.

Everyone payed attention as the board showed the next two contestants. Hayate called out "Will Yuki Haku and Shio Shinsui come to the center of the ring?" Haku used his _Hyou Shunshin _and Shinsui just jumped down to the arena. Hayate jumped back as he said "Hajime!"

Haku pulled out his regular katana and rushed the other boy, who grabbed his scythe. The two met in the middle with slashes. Haku flipped over the other boy and aimed a slash at the Taki nin from overhead. Shinsui easily ducked under and jabbed the staff of his scythe at Haku, catching him in the gut. The ice-user coughed a little before jumping back and performing one-handed seals. _"Hyouton: Hyouryuudan!" (Ice Release: Ice Dragon Missile) _A frozen dragon was formed midair and launched itself at Shunsui.

The Taki shinobi flew through his own handsigns. _"Kansuiton: Karai Kouzai!" (Brine Release: Salty Flood) _A torrent of water came from his mouth and hit the ice dragon. The two battled before the water started to melt the frosty dragon. Haku's eyes widened and he jumped to the side, avoiding the incoming burst of water.

Shunsui grinned. "Sorry, Ice-chan. But my bloodline gives me the Brine Release, and saltwater has a _very _low freezing point.

A tick mark grew on Haku's forehead. "I'M NOT A GIRL!" He shouted and disappeared in a _Hyou Shunshin_, appearing behind the Kansuiton user and slashing at him with the katana. Shunsui kawarimied and appeared a few feet away, tossing a few kunai. Haku finally took out his ice katana and used the silver and frosty blue swords to deflect kunai easily.

_"Kansuiton: Karai Senbon!" (Brine Release: Salty Needles) _Opening his mouth, Shunsui released a barrage of hundreds of saltwater needles at the ice-user. Haku held out his icy katana in front of him and whispered _"Chire, Senbonzakura" (Scatter, Thousand Cherry Blossoms) _Everyone watched in awe as the katana blade slowly dissolved from the tip down, leaving only the hilt as a cloud of glowing, petal-sized blades hovered around the arena.

"Are you prepared to lose, Shunsui? This is the second level of my sword. The first style of my kenjutsu I based off of Kuchiki Byakuya's sword style. This… is the shikai form of my Senbonzakura. I hope you are prepared to fall."

Without moving an inch, the bluish-white blades swirled around Haku before they rushed to the Taki nin. Shunsui kawarimied away just as they almost reached him. _'Fast! So fast!' _was his thought as he jumped around the stadium to avoid being sliced to a bloody corpse.

Shunsui them leapt off of a wall straight for Haku. The Yuki boy smiled and moved one hand towards the Taki nin, and his blades doubled in speed, intercepting Shunsui and slamming him into a wall. Haku allowed the miniature blades to retreat and Shunsui's bloody form to fall out the whole.

Shunsui attempted to get up, but was only as far as his hands and knees when he felt tingling over all of his skin. Looking up, he saw the sakura petal-sized blades form a cloud around him, tickling and caressing his flesh all over his body. Haku still hadn't moved from his position after activating his 'Shikai' as he had named it. "Surrender, Shunsui, or I will show you my _Kuoshikumo (Murder Cloud) _technique. Every one of those blades will penetrate your skin and travel through your blood stream, cutting all your arteries before destroying your heart all at once."

Shunsui swallowed and nodded. "Proctor, I forfeit!" Haku's blades went back to him and reformed his ice katana before he strapped both swords to his waist.

"By forfeit, the winner is Yuki Haku." Haku smiled to himself and shunshined back up to the balcony as the board showed the next two participants.

_Hyuuga Neji vs. Tsufu Shinji_

Neji calmly walked down the stairs and Shinji jumped over the balcony. Once both were in the middle of the arena, Hayate announced "Hajime!"

The two studied each other analytically and Neji spoke. "You had best give in now, Fate has already determined your loss here. Whatever your clan's doujutsu is capable of, it is nothing before my Byakugan. I have the sharpest eyes seen in generations."

Shinji looked the pale-eyed boy with amusement clear in his silver eyes. "Wow… the Hyuuga sure are arrogant. Or maybe it's just you?" Neji grew a tick mark, which made Shinji smile widely. "Yeah, I'll just have to tear that stick out of your ass."

The Hyuuga slipped into the initial Juuken stance and veins bulged around his eyes, the only sign he activated his Byakugan. Shinji smiled and jumped back from the Hyuuga, and took off his hat and pulled out a scroll from inside. He then unsealed its contents, revealed to be enough water flood the arena midway to knee-length. Both shinobi were standing atop the water with chakra however.

"What will this water actually do?" Neji asked incredulously.

Shinji's silver eyes changed. His pupil became slitted and thinned to the width of a senbon while lengthening to cover his entire iris, which was now a silvery-white. Hovering his hand in front of him, Shinji used pure Suiton manipulation to create six senbon that he split between his two hands, three in each.

Neji scoffed at the Taki nin and ran across the water. Shinji smirked and threw the needles at the running Hyuuga. Neji deftly dodged each of the needles and continued running. Just as Neji was about to strike Shinji, the Taki nin smirked and leaned to the left slightly and stabbed a single kunai into Neji's left side. Spinning around the Hyuuga quickly, he also stuck four more needles into precise places on his back.

Shinji jumped back just as the Hyuuga tried to turn and jab him in the stomach. Neji glared at the boy. "Your needles won't affect me." Neji attempted to force chakra through tenketsu to rid himself of the needles and his eyes widened as he felt small blockages.

"Finally noticed? While my Harigan does not have the range or full-circle vision of your Byakugan, I can see more in depth inside the human body. Your tenketsu, chakra pathways, organs, blood stream, and even your pressure points are all within my grasp." Shinji grinned at Neji's scowl. "So you have sharp eyes? Not as sharp as my own." Shinji continued to taunt.

Neji rushed at his opponent who ducked another Juuken strike with amazing flexibility and stabbed another needle into the bottom of Neji's arm. Shinji went for a sweep kick and the pale-eyed Hyuuga jumped over, palming Shinji's shoulder and flipping back, landing gracefully on his feet. Shinji grinned at his opponent and the two ran at each other once more.

Neji's jab towards Shinji's heart was deflected at the wrist and Shinji's counter attack of a chakra-laced jab to Neji's head was parried in a similar manner. The deadly dance between the two continued as Neji landed a few blows to Shinji's right arm and Shinji got three needles into Neji's right shoulder, forearm, and wrist.

Both jumped backwards and gathered chakra for their next moves. With simultaneous shunshins, the two met in the center, and each launched jabs at each other and parried simultaneously. Shinji decided to try and end it quickly. _"Suiton: Sensastu Suishou!" (Water Release: Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death!) _A thousand needles of water rose up and formed a dome around the two. Shinji quickly kawarimied with a log as the needles rushed forward, completely impaling the Hyuuga.

"Proctor, call the…"

A sudden shout of _"Kaiten!" (Heavenly Rotation) _All the needles rebounded off the sudden chakra dome that was created and dissolved back into water. Shinji cursed under his breath as one of his more powerful attacks failed.

Not one to give up easily, Shinji shunshined behind Neji and, quicker than even the Sharingan could follow, ten needles found their way to tenketsu and pressure points on Neji's back. A kawarimi later and Neji missed his chance to strike back. The Hyuuga glared at the Taki nin and got into a separate stance from before as he saw Shinji in position for his best attack. "You are within my field of divination." He whispered.

Neji then rushed forward in the blink of an eye and struck Shinji twice. _"Two Palms! Four Palms! Eight Palms! Sixteen Palms! Thirty-two Palms! Sixty-four Palms! Hakke: Rokujyuuyon Sho!" (Eight Trigrams: Sixty-four Palms) _With each strike from Neji, Shinji was forced further back and on the last strike, he was pushed back with enough force to form spider web cracks the wall fifteen feet away.

"Winner, Hyuuga Neji!" Hayate called. An arrogant grin on Neji's face, he finally fell through the water and on his back as the needles screwing with his chakra took effect and other ones that were meant to stiffen his body finally did as well, making him rigid and unconscious from chakra exhaustion as medics picked up the two combatants and a few jounin dried up the water on the field for the next battle.

_Kurotsuchi vs. Fuu _The two contestants soon found their way to the field and stared each other down as the proctor called out "Hajime!"

The Nanabi jinchuuriki forced chakra into the red canister on her back, forcing the lid off and Kurotsuchi watched in disgust as beetles slowly crawled out of it and surrounded the green-haired girl's feet on the floor. "That… is seriously gross." Kurotsuchi commented. "Do you carry those around all the time?"

Fuu grinned at the pink-eyed girl. "Of course! Seven different hives in this canister. This is my first hive, the kikaichuu. The Aburame clan uses the same type of beetle as this and you'll see just how formidable they can be." Kurotsuchi scowled at her opponent and scoffed.

"They stand no chance against me, bug girl." Kurotsuchi flipped through handseals quickly and launched out a few balls of lava. _"Youton: Kazanbai!" (Lava Release: Volcanic Ash) _Kurotsuchi breathed out a large cloud of black ash from her mouth that covered the entire arena. She smirked before, from above, she heard a cry of _"Suiton: Mizurappa!" (Water Release: Water Trumpet) _A stream of high-powered water rushed at the Iwa kunoichi, who jumped away. She noticed the two beetle-like wings from Fuu's back that allowed her to fly.

"Great… she can frickin' fly! There goes a third of my arsenal!" Kurotsuchi complained before sighing and going through her own handseals. _"Youton: Kyuu Reikyaku Senbon!" (Lava Release: Rapid Cooling Needles) _The Iwa kunoichi opened her mouth a needles of lava that quickly cooled into obsidian shot from her mouth at the flying Fuu.

The green-haired girl dodged easily and smirked as some of her personal colony of kikaichuu crawled all along her arms and she overloaded them with a mix of youkai and Raiton chakra before mentally commanding them to swarm Kurotsuchi.

The lava-user was surrounded on all sides by the bugs and saw sparks dancing between the flying colony and made a quick decision. _"Youton: Youkai no Jutsu!" (Lava Release: Melting Apparition Technique) _ She sprayed out a stream of liquefied magma in a circle around her, causing the sparking beetles to explode with the contact of lava. Kurotsuchi smirked at the destruction of her enemies bugs and then lost her grin and jumped back from the sudden barrage of kunai that landed where she had just stood.

Kurotsuchi's eyes bulged as she noticed the tags on the kunai, and she jumped back, only to be caught in the backlash of the explosion and sent back into the wall behind her. Groaning, the girl glared at her opponent. "Oh, you are so dead!" She promised to the beetle-user. Fuu stuck her tongue out and then spoke.

_"Nanabi Hijutsu: Shodaime Guntai Kaisei!" (Seven-Tails Secret Technique: First Colony Regeneration) _With a single youkai-laced clap, the kikaichuu surrounding Kurotsuchi rose back and, and the pink-eyed girl cursed under her breath before jumping away from the bugs.

_'That many will knock me out in seconds.' _She thought. As granddaughter to the Tsuchikage, she had to know the basics of most of the clans of the Elemetal Nations, most especially, the Konoha ones. And the Aburame's bugs had chakra draining properties, the pink-eyed girl knew.

Fuu landed in the middle of her beetles and grinned at Kurotsuchi, who watched in disgust as the beetles began crawling up her legs, and over her body, even covering her arms and head. The end result was Fuu transforming into a human-sized beetle that stood on two legs with four more to fight with, a shell, two wings, two antennae on her head, and dangerous looking pincers as well as the black exoskeleton of a kikaichuu.

Fuu then took off flying at the Iwa kunoichi almost too fast to see, but Kurotsuchi's instincts let her roll way without being touched. As Kurotsuchi came up, she finished a set of hand seals. _"Youton: Youkai!" (Lava Release: Melting Apparition) _Kurotsuchi breathed out a large amount of liquefied magma straight at the beetle, catchin one of its arms, which burned off.

The beetle cried out and then its arm grew back, only a slightly darker shade of black than the rest of its body. _'Didn't she say she had seven colonies…? That sucks!' _Kurotsuchi thought grimly and then remembered one of her more powerful combination moves.

_"Doton: Iwa Bunshin!" (Earth Release: Rock Clone) _A single clone of Kurotsuchi was made of the arena floor next to her and they each flew through other handseals. _"Youton: Sekkaigyou no Jutsu!" (Lava Release: Quicklime Congealing Technique) _The original exclaimed, shooting quicklime from her mouth and coating the beetle in it.

The clone finished her own seals and shouted _"Suiton: Mizurappa!" (Water Release: Water Trumpet) _She launched a large spray of water that turned the quicklime to cement and stopped the beetle in its tracks. With Fuu unable to move, Kurotsuchi was declared the winner.

A few jounin were able to get rid of the cement around Fuu and she left back up next to Naruto before the second to last match began.

_Subaku no Gaara vs. Rock Lee_

While Gaara silently used a _Suna Shunshin _to appear in front of the proctor, Naruto had to cringe as he heard the green-clad, bushy browed Konoha genin shout. "Yosh! I am finally up! Watch my flames of youth, Gai-sensei!" as he jumped over the railing to stand in front of Gaara.

Gaara looked at his strange opponent with boredom evident in his eyes. Lee was clearly about to explode into action as he waited intently for the proctor to say one word. Gaara removed the cork from his gourd and waited patiently as well, completely emotionless.

"Hajime!" He shouted before jumping back. Like a cannon, Lee shot forward, fist cocked back, and tried to hit Gaara. His fist only hit sand, however. Lee was forced to jump back quickly as Gaara formed a katana from sand and tried to stab him.

Lee ran directly at the Suna nin and tried for a Leaf Hurricane, only to have another wall of sand block the bushy-browed genin's foot. Gaara then attempted to skewer him with a naginata, the sand katana now floating beside him. Lee, again, jumped back.

With amazing speed, Lee went for a sweeping kick, only for the same thing to happen, only the blade in Gaara's hand was now a tanto. Lee leapt back easily and studied his opponent, looking for any openings. That's when he noticed that surrounding Gaara were six floating blades of sand: a katana, naginata, tanto, scythe, wakizashi, zanbuto, and in his right hand was a chain whip.

Lee smiled widely. "This will be a most youthful battle!" And he took off. Running at speeds of a high Chuunin, he couldn't stop as Gaara sidestepped him and caught his leg in the chain whip before throwing him into a wall.

Gaara studied the fallen form of Lee and let his whip go, where it floated just in his reach, before grabbing his katana and wakizashi. With a shunshin, he was above Lee in midair, attempting to bisect him before the genin pulled out two kunai to block. Jumping back, Lee looked at his sensei who nodded with a thumbs up. "Take them off Lee!" Lee nodded and jumped atop the stone statue and pulled off some leg weights under his orange leg warmers.

"Taking off a few pounds won't match him up to Gaara." Temari scoffed. Naruto merely smiled and signaled for her to watch the fight. It was about to get good.

Lee dropped the weights and two huge craters formed in the ground where they landed, explosions of dirt, rock, and dust coming up where they landed.

"You were saying…?" Kankuro asked with a smirk before the fan-user smacked him upside the head.

"Shut it, baka."

Lee suddenly disappeared from view and attempted a kick behind Gaara's head. Unflinching, Gaara allowed his sand to block the blow as he swiped with his wakizashi, missing as Lee reappeared in front of him, a punch aimed for his face.

The sand blocked Lee as Gaara aimed a vertical slash to sever Lee's right hand. Again the boy disappeared and appeared to his side, moving fast enough to strike Gaara in the stomach with his foot. Gaara was blown backwards and his gourd cushioned the hit as he went into the wall.

The Suna nin lost his bored expression and looked at Lee with mild dislike. "If that's how you want it…" Gaara said and dusted himself off before deactivating his one of his gravity seals and glaring at Lee. In a blur, he rushed Lee and swiped with his zanbuto, barely missing the rolling Lee.

Lee sent a kick to Gaara's back, who quickly performed a kawarimi with Lee and jabbed his own back with his sand scythe. Lee gasped his breath and was forced to duck a swipe by the scythe's blade. With a high jump kick, Gaara was then sent midair. Lee continued kicking him higher and higher up in the air until they were at the height Lee desired. Without hesitation, Lee wrapped Gaara in his arm bandages and began spinning both of them towards the ground in a high-speed dive. _"Omote Renge!" (Frontal Lotus)_

Just as they were about to hit the ground, Lee jumped away and Gaara created a small crater in the ground, his gourd dissolved into sand to cushion the blow. Lee was panting with a small smile on his face. "I… am the … more youthful… of us… my friend." Then before Lee's now widened eyes, Gaara's face began to crack before slowly caving in. His body soon followed suit and completely dissolved into sand, revealing it to be no more than a _Suna Bunshin_.

_"Sunagakure no Jutsu." (Hidden Sand Technique) _Lee heard Gaara say and suddenly all the dust from earlier battles, the sand from Gaara's gourd, and even the crumbled remains of stone in the arena small enough to be classified as powder rose up and created a small scale sandstorm inside the arena, preventing Lee from seeing.

"Mother… wants your blood…" Gaara's voice came from everywhere at once, freaking out everyone in the arena. "Mother… I will get you his blood… I will take him for you… Mother. I will slice him up, nice and slow… Mother. I will cut him up in small pieces, just how you like it… Mother." Everyone but a certain redhead was chilled to the bone at Gaara's high-pitched creepy voice. Naruto simply sweatdropped at Gaara's antics and sighed. _'Damn psychotic maniac.'_

"I will get him…" Silence as Lee tried to see Gaara. "MOTHER!" The audience tried to see anything and heard a strangled cry before the sand condensed on one location. Everyone now saw Gaara with a psychotic grin on his face staring at a floating Lee, who was stuck inside a cocoon of sand, only his head showing. "I could crush you, squash you like a bug. I could implode your bones and liquefy your muscles. With a thought, my sand could enter your body through any of those cuts and go through your bloodstream, and pierce your heart. That blood… blood that would be everywhere. The blood Mother wants. Delicious blood… warm, sweet blood of a Konoha nin… Should I crush your body, little insect? Crush you so you can never be a shinobi again? Crush your very being? Your heart, your mind, your very life?" Gaara laughed maniacally and Lee, always upbeat, naïve Lee was sweating. Gaara tightened his fist slightly and Lee cried out in pain as the cocoon of sand tightened as well.

Lee looked at his sensei, as if asking for help, and Gai could only watch in horror as the sand-user had his favorite student locked in an impenetrable position. Gai shook his head sadly and Lee almost cried. "P-proctor… I…"

Gaara grinned menacingly and squeezed slightly tighter, causing another gasp of pain from Lee, tears leaking down his face. "I forfeit!" Lee, the one Konoha genin who never gave up anything, exclaimed. Gaara's face became emotionless once more as he let go of the sand cocoon. As Lee fell to the floor, once Gaara was declared winner, everyone could see the holes in his body. Gaara had sand spikes impaling him the whole time Lee was inside the cocoon. _"Subaku-Ryuu: Aienmeiden Sabaku Kyuu." (Desert Style: Iron Maiden Desert Coffin) _Gaara whispered on his way back upstairs.

Medics rolled Lee away and the last match began. _Kinuta Dosu vs. Chikei Kawaru_

Dosu and Kawaru made their ways to the field. Kawaru was tall and looked to be fourteen years old, with sandy brown hair to his shoulders and deep brown eyes. He wore a dust brown shirt and ANBU-style pants of the same shade. On his left hip was a sword-breaker and his Iwa hitai-ite sat around his neck.

As they met each other in the middle, a shout of "Hajime!" was heard, announcing the beginning of the fight to the two. Dosu and Kawaru just stood there and studied each other, each awaiting the other's first move. Kawaru finally made his and tossed three kunai at Dosu. The Oto nin simply held up his Melody Arm and deflected them, causing it to emit a low frequency.

The Iwa nin awaited Dosu's counter-attack, but got none, so he flipped through handseals. _"Doton: Iwa Rendan!" (Earth Release: Stone Barrage) _He stomped on the floor and several sharp rocks shot from in front of him towards Dosu. Dosu kawarimied with a log and appeared on another side of the arena.

Kawaru was getting tired of this. "Fight me, dammit!" another set of handseals later and _"Randoton: Sankanbu!" (Land Release: Mountainous Region) _He slammed his palms to the ground and the entire arena changed, large spikes raising from the ground in random places, creating a miniature mountain range.

Kawaru was so intent on focusing the necessary chakra to create this jutsu, that he never even felt Dosu behind him until it was too late. Dosu sent a punch at Kawaru and missed, the holes of his Melody Arm just grazing Kawaru. Most people thought he was clumsy, but the Oto nin, their 'sensei' and Naruto- who could sense the chakra coming from Dosu's gauntlet- all knew differently. It was very intentional what he did.

Suddenly Kawaru's ears dripped blood and the Iwa nin fell backwards and was unconscious. Under his bandages, Dosu smirked as he was declared the winner.

Once the matches were done, the twelve shinobi advancing to the Third Exam stood on the field (which was now without mountains, thanks to a few jounin with Earth affinities) and each had a number that the proctor had allowed them to pick, deciding the matches.

Hayate told them to call out the numbers in order.

"One. Yuki Haku."

"Two. Hyuuga Neji."

"Three. Kinuta Dosu."

"Four. Ryoutenbin no Kurotsuchi."

"Five. Shogunmono Subeta"

"Six. Tsuchi Kin."

"Seven. Abumi Zaku."

"Eight. Uchiha Sasuke."

"Nine. Sabaku no Kankuro."

"Ten. Sabaku no Temari."

"Eleven. Uzumaki Naruto."

"Twelve. Sabaku no Gaara."

The proctor nodded and then the Hokage explained the Third Exam. "Due to the number of competitors, this is how the tournament will be set up. The first round will consist of four three-man battle. The battles of Round 1 will be Yuki Haku vs. Hyuuga Neji vs. Kinuta Dosu, followed by Ryoutenbin no Kurotsuchi vs. Shogunmono Subeta vs. Tsuchi Kin, then Abumi Zaku vs. Uchiha Sasuke vs. Sabaku no Kankuro and finally Sabaku no Temari vs. Uzumaki Naruto vs. Sabaku no Gaara. The second round will consist of two regular one-on-one matches between the winners of the first and second battles and the winners of the third and fourth battles. The Finals will be an all-out fight between the two winners of the semi-finals, any questions?"

No one had any. "Very well. Spend the next month training. Since the trek to some of the villages you inhabit is quite far, Konoha will free a training ground for each foreign contestant who wishes to use them. Thank you, and I will see all of you next month."

_Original Jutsu_

_Doton: Nami no Iwa (Earth Release: Rock Wave) The user creates a wave of rocks on the ground that travels forward. B-Rank._

_Heki no Sumi (Wall of Ink) Sai will throw a bottle of ink on the ground and then perform the correct handsigns to have it expand into a defensive wall. B-Rank._

_Sumi Senbon Rendan (Ink Needle Barrage) Sai takes pre-existing ink or converts his chakra to ink within his body and forms it into senbon before shooting them at a target. B-Rank._

_Yomi no Hinote (Flames of Hell) A Genjutsu that looks like black fire is sent towards the target. If the fire hits the target, then their mind will trick them into thinking they are being burned alive with fires hot as Amaterasu. A-Rank._

_Hyouton: Hyouryuudan (Ice Release: Ice Dragon Missile) __An alteration of Suiryudan that uses supercold mist that solidifies into ice in the form of a dragon that is shot towards a target at high speeds. A-rank._

_Kansuiton: Karai Kouzai (Brine Release: Salty Flood) The user converts chakra to extremely salty water and shoots a highly-pressurized stream of it at their opponent. B-Rank._

_Kansuiton: Karai Senbon (Brine Release: Salty Needles) The user converts chakra to extremely salty water and shoots in from their mouth in the form of hundreds of senbon. B-Rank._

_Chire, Senbonzakura (Scatter, Thousand Cherry Blossoms) The command to transform Haku's ice katana to its 'shikai' form that was inspired by the ancient kenjutsu master, Kuchiki Byakuya's own sword._

_Kumoshikumo (Murder Cloud) After Senbonzakura is in 'shikai' form, the petals form a cloud around the target, petals floating all around their body, feeling as if they are tickling or caressing them. At a command, they pierce the target's flesh and flow through their circulatory system, tearing their arteries before finally obliterating the target's heart and bursting from their chest. A-Rank._

_Youton: Kazanbai (Lava Release: Volcanic Ash) The user releases a cloud of volcanic ash from their mouth that becomes a thick cloud around them. Inhaling the ash can cause suffocation and it also can cause temporarily blindness if inside it too long. C-Rank._

_Youton: Kyuu Reikyaku Senbon (Lava Release: Rapid Cooling Needles) Lava that is close to being completely cooled is shot from the user's mouth in the form of senbon and becomes a barrage of obsidian senbons before it hits its target. B-Rank._

_Nanabi Hijutsu: Shodaime Guntai Kaisei (Seven-Tails Secret Technique: First Colony Regeneration) The Nanabi jinchuuriki will use a burst of youkai to revive their colony of kikaichuu._

_Sunagakure no Jutsu (Hidden Sand Technique) Based on the Kirigakure no Jutsu, Gaara will gather his sand in a thick cloud, creating a controlled sandstorm that hides him from anyone in and outside the technique. C-Rank._

_Subaku-Ryuu: Aienmeiden Sabaku Kyuu (Desert Style: Iron Maiden Desert Coffin) An alteration on Gaara's Sabaku Kyuu, Gaara will manipulate thin sand spikes within the desert coffin that stab deeper into whoever is caught as he squeezes the coffin more. A-Rank._

_Doton: Iwa Rendan (Earth Release: Stone Barrage) Multiple sharp stones are sent from the ground towards a target. C-Rank._

_Randoton: Sankanbu (Land Release: Mountainous Region) Utilizing the Randoton subelement, the user can alter the elevation of the surrounding area._

_Original Bloodlines_

_Harigan (Needle Eye)- Doujutsu creates hundreds of year's ago when a Branch Hyuuga had a child with a woman from outside the clan. The resulting Doujutsu was silvery-white with a slitted black pupil the width of a senbon. It allows the user to see chakra, see through any Genjutsu B-rank and below without training, and anything less than S-rank Genjutsu with mastery. It also has the Byakugan's ability to see through objects to a higher degree than what its predecessor can, including spotting the pressure points of a human body, allowing the Harigan users to use their fighting style based on the ancient art of Acupuncture._

_Kansuiton (Brine Release)- This sub-element is accessible only to those with a high affinity to water and with a high concentration of Yin chakra. The result is the ability to create and control water with very high concentrations of salt, giving them a lower freezing point and a higher boiling point._

_Randoton (Land Release)- This sub-element is accessible only to those with a high affinity for Earth and a high concentration of Yang chakra. It allows the user to alter the altitude, formation, type and moisture of the surrounding terrain._

**Chapter End. How were the fights? Not too bad, I hope? I also added the original bloodlines section to my chapter, and will start using it in my other stories, as I'm sure some of my bloodlines can be kind of confusing.**

**I will spend next chapter for the month training, as Naruto has much to do over it. **

**Thank you to everyone who voted on the poll, it has been decided! Fuu is in the pairing, making the final main pairing NarutoxKinxTemarixFuu.**

**Also, if you have an OC, original Jutsu, or an original clan you want in this story, or any of my others, PM me and I'll see if I can fit him/her/it/them in, kay?**

**Remember to R&R!**

**Until next time, Orpheus out!**


	11. Chapter XI

**Naruto of the Red Sands**

**Chapter XI**

**Here's the next chapter of Red Sands. Not much to say though, besides that this whole chapter is basically training, filler, and fluff. And that's it. This concerns the entire month break for Naruto and everything he does, including a handy little countdown timer at each section.**

**And also, all of you guys overthink! Kurochi was sent to a smiple storage seal because of the Shadow Exile. What seal? One of the storage seals on Naruto's staff! Not Kyuubi's seal, not an alternate dimension, a simple storage seal on his staff that contains all his puppets. Not a single person guessed it correctly.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto.**

_30 days before the Third Exams_

Naruto was walking through Konoha to the Training Ground that the Hokage had freed up for him. After some haggling with said Hokage, he had actually gotten permission for the one place he wanted to train above all others within Konohagakure no Sato.

Training Ground 44.

He could feel the ANBU shadowing him, but could care less. If it came down to a fight, Naruto could take them. If not… there was always Hitomi's chakra. **"That's right there is!" **said fox shouted from his head.

But other people were trailing him as well. He could recognize a few, the foremost was one Miturashi Anko. _'All according to plan.' _Naruto inwardly grinned, though his face remained cold as he jumped over the gate to get into the Forest of Death. He began to run through the trees at speeds even ANBU had trouble with. Though someone with Snake Summons wouldn't necessarily have that same problem.

Once the redhead was sure none of the ANBU were around, Naruto stopped and jumped down into a field and created a few Kage Bunshin. All of them automatically got to work. Four of them stood in four corners and began shooting through handseals. _"Uzumaki-Ryuu Kekkai Fuin!" (Uzumaki Style Barrier Seal) _Naruto smirked, knowing what the effect of that would be.

_Hokage Tower, one minute before_

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Elder Council, Hatake Kakahsi, Yuuhi Kurenai, Sarutobi Asuma, and Maito Gai all stood around the desk, watching on the Hokage's Crystal Ball as the redheaded Kugutsu (Puppet Arts) master made his way through the Forest of Death.

"Why, again, did you allow him access to the most dangerous training ground?" Danzo asked the Hokage curiously. "Surely you don't hope he dies?" The Sandaime shook his head.

"No, it turns out that the Forest of Death is quite easy to watch with my Crystal Ball. I can keep an eye on Naruto-kun's abilities." They watched as Naruto sped past, and lost, every single ANBU. "Which seems rather extensive just from the match and this display, if you ask me." Hiruzen pointed out. Suddenly the redhead jumped down to an empty field surrounded by trees and made a few…

"Are those Kage Bunshin? How does he know that technique! It's supposed to be a Konoha kinjutsu!" The only female Elder demanded.

"It seems as if the boy is even more promising than we thought. Before he left, he must've either memorizd or copied the Scroll of Seals. All under our noses and we had no warning until now." Asuma pointed out with a drag of his cigarette.

"Yes, it seems so." Hiruzen agreed, before four clones shouted _Uzumaki-Ryuu Kekkai Fuin_ which caused the Crystal Ball to turn to static.

"What just happened?" Kurenai asked disbelievingly.

"It appears as if Kushina's son just found a way to block Hokage-sama's Crystal Ball, Kurenai." Everyone in the room was shocked, knowing this meant he was untraceable within the village.

_Back at the Forest, present_

Naruto now awaited his shadow's arrival. He didn't have to wait long before she arrived. Landing soundlessly in front of him was Anko in all her glory. The purple-haired kunoichi wore her usual garb of fishnet bodysuit, _very_ short, burnt orange skirt and ankle-length trench coat. Without a moment's hesitation she looked at Naruto pleadingly and grabbed her Juin before begging him.

No, she really got on her knees and begged him. "N-Naruto… please! Get this damn Mark off of me! You know just how bad it is, with how often I complained to you while you were here. It's so much worse now! With that damn hebi-teme so close… it's acting up and giving me pain all over! And the constant whispers… I can hear his voice everywhere!" Naruto looked at Anko, one of the few he actually cared for in this Village because she had actually protected him on days she had no mission, even taking him out for Dango from time to time before his seventh birthday.

Naruto smiled a true smile at her and knelt down so he was on her eye level. "Onee-chan, of course I'll help you." The woman's pupilless brown eyes shot up and she looked into his own violet ones, finding nothing but care. "You have to know that I'm a foreign shinobi now though, right? I can't just help every person who comes. Onee-chan… I want to help you… but I don't want anyone to come after me here in Konoha."

Anko panicked, afraid he wouldn't help. "No! Naruto! I'll protect you in the village! I can't have this stupid thing on my neck anymore, I'll go insane! Did you know that after you left, that damn Council tried to get me to track you with my Snakes? I refused though, otouto, I refused to bring you back to this hellhole. I was so lonely, so hated these past five years… but I couldn't stand the thought of you being beaten here again if I wasn't around. I knew you were much safer outside Konoha than inside.

"And when I heard you were the apprentice of Akasuna no Sasori, I was so proud! My little otouto had gone and found himself an S-rank teacher! Sure, Sasori was a missing-nin, but I knew you knew what you were doing. You were always so smart. And I knew that with your new skills you were bound to have, everyone who hurt you would pay, and rightfully so! They hurt you for no reason, Naruto-kun! No reason at all!

"It was that thought that kept me here, kept me in Konoha to wait for you. I know you came for a reason, you wouldn't just show up in Konoha without one. I know you better than I know myself, and I know you're probably here for revenge. I know you're going to make the Leaf pay for its actions against you. So get this damn Mark off of me so I can help you!" Anko pleaded. "Get it off so I can make sure you don't get killed in here. Because if that happened…" Anko looked desperate. "How could I go on knowing my little otouto died and it was all my fault?"

Naruto smiled at his onee-chan and gave a mental command to his remaining clones. "Arigato, Anko-onee, I'll get that mark off of your neck. I just wanted to make sure I could still trust my Onee-chan with my life. And you never lied, not once. Gomensai for not taking you with me when I left, but I was in such a hurry. But I'll make those temes pay for hurting you Onee. Every. Single. One."

Anko grinned sadistically at imagining all the people who harmed her or Naruto in her vengeful clutches and chuckled darkly before she began screaming at having the Curse Seal broken by the clone's fuinjutsu. She had one thought through it all.

_'So worth the pain… I'll make this village pain for Naruto-kun's and my pain, and then you're next, hebi-teme!' _Then she screamed loudly again. Good thing the Barrier Seal blocked sound from escaping as well as seeing what's going on inside.

_28 Days before the Third Exam_

Fuu quickly backed up into another alley, waiting. She watched her sensei pass by, and sighed once more. With both of her other teammates still recovering from their fights, the Taki team had no choice but stay here in Konoha, much to the jinchuuriki's joy. She had to be careful though, very careful. If her sensei found her though… there was no telling what he might do to her. He was, after all, one of the leaders of her hate mobs on many occasions. _'What the hell was the village leader thinking, putting me on his team? All my teammates hate me!' _

The green-haired kunoichishook herself from those thoughts. _'No use in that… I shouldn't think those things.'_

"You alright, Fuu-chan?" she jumped at the voice and turned to see the one person she needed.

"Naruto-kun! Don't sneak up on me like that!" The redhead rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Gomensai, Fuu-chan. Are you alright though? You looked like you were thinking really hard about something, and I could feel your fear, hate and anger from a mile away."

"Was it _that _bad?" Fuu received a nod from her fellow jinchuuriki. "I was just… thinking about my team… and Taki…" Naruto frowned at this and looked at Fuu, then smiled.

"Well, I've got an idea, Fuu. Something that will make you really happy! Because a girl as pretty as you shouldn't ever be without that beautiful smile of yours." That caused Fuu to blush hard. Her entire life, not a single person had ever done anything but sneered, glared or beat her. She had no form of affection whatsoever, and here was Naruto, who she admitted was pretty cute, telling her she was beautiful?

"W-what is it?" she stammered, furiously fighting to keep her blush down, unsuccessfully.

"Well… how would you like to come with me after the Exams are over?" Naruto asked her.

"To Suna?" Fuu asked excitedly. If she could get out of that hellhole otherwise known as Taki, she definitely would!

Naruto shook his head. "Suna… has lost its usefulness to me. I've got everything I can from there. So, I'm leaving that village as well. For the last two years I've been preparing, and my team and I are ready to leave Sand. We only stayed this long because…" Naruto frowned and grabbed Fuu's hand. "Come on, the Hokage's watching us, I can sense his Crystal Ball's energy." Fuu followed him, wtill fighting her blush.

_Forest of Death, two minutes later_

Naruto and Fuu dropped into Naruto's personal training field in the Forest of Death, where Fuu gasped at the sight.

There were literally _hundreds _of clones of Naruto. They were all doing different things, too. A group of them were practicing Futon jutsu, another were working on Suiton, , another were reading scrolls, a group practicing fuinjutsu, a group practicing low-level Genjutsu, a group working on puppet techniques, a group working with that weird naginata-scythe Naruto used, a group reading books, and also a group working on attempting to figure out Katon manipulation by holding sticks and attempting to burn them with chakra.

"Wow…" Fuu commented. "But… what's the point in having your Bunshin train? Isn't that just a waste of chakra?" the mint-haired girl asked.

"Not these. Kage bunshin give the creator all their memories when they dispel." Naruto said, smiling in amusement at Fuu's widened eyes. "So, 500 clones working for an hour on chakra control is the same as doing 500 hours of consecutive chakra control. Usually its dangerous, because it splits your chakra up evenly between them, but two groups can actually use this technique for training." At Fuu's questioning gaze, he continued. "The jutsu was created by the Uzumaki clan as an answer to the Uchiha's Sharingan. The Uzumaki kekkai genkai has five parts, extended life, godly affinity for Suiton, affinity for fuinjutsu, increased regenerative abilities and finally massive chakra reserves. A normal Uzumaki has the reserves of a low-Kage level shinobi by the time they're ten. Add in my jinchuuriki status and at the age of twelve I have the reserves of four Kages, and that's _before _I tap into my bijuu's own chakra. The only other group that can use this training method at our age… are the jinchuuriki themselves." Fuu grinned at the implications.

"And I'm going to use it to train you. On two conditions." Naruto smiled, knowing the Hokage couldn't watch him right now as his barrier was still up. "The first is that you join me and my team after the Exams are over." Fuu nodded immediately, glad to get away from Taki and all of its abusive citizens. "The second… is that you help me during the Invasion of Oto and Suna during the Third Exams." Fuu hesitated, but then realized that the Konoha nin had probably treated Naruto the same way as Taki treated her, and that infuriated her. This place had hurt Naruto!

"I will." She said. "Train me, Naruto-kun. I will join you as a missing-nin, and help you during the Invasion." Naruto grinned, _'Another one with me, just a few left.' _

_27 Days before the Third Exams_

Temari and Kin were glaring at each other, Karin was looking on with raised eyebrows, and Fuu was shivering. Suddenly Temari turned her glare to Karin, and Kin to Fuu. "Can I help you?" Karin asked nonchalantly. The blonde walked right up to her, growling with clenched fists.

"Stay away from Naru-kun, he's mine!" She said in a low voice to the redhead, who looked confused for a moment. Temari really got angry as the redhead then started laughing. She was actually on the floor rolling around and holding her stomach! "What the hell is so funny!" Temari demanded.

Karin slowly got up and wiped a tear from her eye. "I'm not even interested in Naruto-niisan like that. He's my cousin, or did you forget?" Temari took a step back, suddenly blushing. "Now… that Haku, he's really cute. I think I might just want to…" Then Karin began blushing and a small trickle of blood ran from her nose. "I think I'll go find him now, actually…" And Karin ran off from the group, leaving the three teenage kunoichi alone.

Kin looked at Fuu harshly. "What about you, Fuu?" the green-haired girl steeled herself against the glare and glared right back, adding some KI. "Yes, I like Naruto-kun. I might even be able to love him one day. He knows the pain I know, and yet he's so caring to those he considers close, even protecting them against all odds. I don't love him, not yet, but I can see myself with him." Kin glared.

"I've known him the longest, bug-girl. I don't care if you _are _helping us, I won't lose him to you!" Fuu growled and unconsciously began channeling chakra to the jar on her back, and a few beetles crawled out.

"Bring it on!" Fuu yelled, when suddenly Temari was between them, battle-fan ready to club either one.

"Shut it, you two! This is not why I called you two here. Karin, she I was testing, but I knew that you two liked Naru-kun enough to want him happy, right?" The raven and mint-haired kunoichis nodded, never stopping their glares at each other. "Then hear me out. All three of us know what he's planning to do after the Exams, about Suna, right?" Everyone nodded. "And we all agreed to go with him. Girls, I have a propostition. Instead of ripping each other's throats about Naruto, who deserves our attention much more, why don't we come to a compromise, a sort of deal?" Kin and Fuu looked at the older kunoichi curiously.

"What kind of deal?" Kin asked.

"What do you two know about the CRA…?"

_Meanwhile, at Training Ground 44_

Naruto was training Anko up to his standards and letting some Kage Bunshin his, teach hers, which was maxed out at twenty right now, when he suddenly stopped and shuddered.

"Are you alright, otouto?" Anko asked, seeing Naruto had stopped in his explanation of chakra strings use in battle.

"Onee-chan… I just got the feeling as if my life is about to get really strange."

Anko grinned. "Maybe those three girls that I saw ogling at you during the Preliminaries finally discovered you're eligible for the CRA?" Naruto shivered again.

"I don't know whether to be glad they'll stop fighting, or be scared for my life, if you're right, onee-chan."

_Back at Temari's Training Ground_

"And that's how the CRA works." Temari finished.

Kin took a thinking pose and then grinned. "So… as the last male Uzumaki, that we know of, he automatically needs at least three wives anyways?" Temari nodded and Fuu smiled as Kin continued. "I'm in. If he needs three anyways, it may as well be with girls I can trust. And even though you're new to me, Fuu, I trust you because you're the same as him." Fuu smiled at the rave-haired girl's comment.

"Now that that's settled… when do we tell him?" Fuu asked, and Temari smirked evilly.

_25 Days before the Third Exam_

Haku and Gaara were sparring at Training Ground 18, Haku's personal one the Hokage had assigned him. Originally it had been a grassy field, but five days of the two kenjutsu user's fighting had ultimately changed that.

Now the floor was covered in frosty desert sand that even had a few small dunes.

Gaara shot forward with a naginata of sand straight at Haku, who brought Senbonzakura up to block. The two pressed against each other when suddenly Haku felt a familiar chakra signature. He kawarimied with a log, much to Gaara's surprise.

"Um… where are you going Haku?" Gaara asked as he saw the Hyouton-user about to run from the artic-deseert field.

"Can't talk, Karin is…" suddenly in a red blur, who Gaara recognized as Karin Uzumaki, Haku was being glomped.

"Hello~, Hauk-kuuun" Karin said sultrily. "I almost couldn't find you!" She pouted at the paler boy, who merely smiled at her.

"I-uh… gomensai, Karin-san, but…"

"No, none of that, san, what did I tell you last night?"

Gaara was grinning. "What happened last night, Haku?" He asked, and almost was sent to the floor laughing at Haku's furious blush.

"No-nothing!" Haku yelled at his friend, extremely embarrassed.

Karin pouted. "It was nothing, Haku-kun? IS that really how you feel?" Haku saw tears brimming the girl's eyes and panicked.

"No, that's not what I meant, Karin-sa… chan." Suddenly the redhead was smiling brightly at him, eyes closed behind her glasses.

"Alright, I'll leave you with your girlfriend, Haku." Gaara said and turned around, laughing quietly the whole time as Haku was still blushing and Karin was grinning at being Haku's 'girlfriend'.

The Uzumaki grabbed Haku's arm and pulled him toward the town. "Come on, Haku-kun!"

"Wh-where are we going?" Haku asked.

"Oh, you're taking me out on a date since I'm now your official girlfriend!" Karin said with a grin and dragged Haku to some restaurant called 'Ichiraku's'.

_Ichiraku's, a few minutes before_

Naruto loved ramen and he loved the Ichiraku's, as far as Kin could tell anyways. "Are you sure he'll be here, Kin?" Fuu asked exasperated. They had searched everywhere for two days and seen neither head nor tails of Naruto.

"Of course! If there is one thing Naruto loves more than training, it's his ramen. He practically made for the remodeling of the only ramen stand in Suna, plus the owner's son's way through college over two years though. I do wonder how he ever gets so much money as he spends on those noodles though… And if you ever get him on the subject, he always brings up this ramen stand as the greatest place to eat." Temari answered her in Kin's place as they finally found the restaurant and saw their favorite redhead.

He had fifteen bowls of ramen to his side and was busy at work on another one.

Temari was first to head over by him and sat on the stool to his left. Naruto looked up from his bowl and slurped the noodle he had, smiling at the blonde. "Oh, hey, Mari-chan!" He greeted her cheerfully. "What's up?" Then he felt two other chakra signatures. "Fuu-chan and Kin-chan too? I didn't know you guys liked ramen now. Did you finally realize that it really is the food of Kami?" He asked with a grin.

"Not quite, Naru-kun…" Kin said, and then the redhead noticed the way they were looking at him. And that none were glaring at another for looking at him or being close.

"Dammit Anko-onee was right!" Naruto muttered under his breath.

_Elsewhere, at the Dango Shop_

Anko was just about to eat a piece of Dango when she suddenly sneezed. "Hm… I wonder who's talking about me?" She grinned and ate the stick of Dango before getting up and holding it like a senbon. "Only one way to find out!"

Everyone in Konoha shivered as they somehow knew Anko was about to go 'interrogating' people again.

_Back at Ichiraku's_

"S-so… what's going on girls?" Naruto asked nervously as he saw the clear humour in their eyes. Fuu then sat on the stool to his right, leaving Kin standing in front of him. Naruto was trapped, and there was nothing he could do.

"You, Naruto, is why we're here, not the ramen." Temari said.

"And we're not leaving, or letting you leave, anytime soon." Kin continued as she plopped down onto his lap.

"Not until…" Fuu said with a deep blush. "You promise us all one thing."

Naruto looked at each of them, and saw his lifeline. "What's that?" Naruto asked as he molded his chakra perfectly.

"A date." Each said simultaneously.

"Um…" Naruto said nervously before a cloud of smoke enveloped him and a confused looking Karin was in his place. The four girls turned around to see a fleeing Naruto and Haku and then began chasing after them.

_Forest of Death, thirty minutes later_

Haku and Naruto arrived in his training ground panting to the sight of more of his clones training, along with clones of Anko, Fuu and Gaara. "I think we lost them." Haku said in between breaths.

Naruto then looked at one of his best friends. "So you and Karin, huh?" He asked with a grin. "I approve, you are good enough for my cousin." Naruto said with a grin. Haku blushed and stammered before smiling evilly at Naruto and speaking loud enough for one of Gaara's clones to hear.

"What about you and Kin? And Fuu? And…" Naruto saw what he was trying and used to chakra strings to try and have Haku cover his mouth with his hands, but too late. "Temari." Suddenly all of Gaara's clones dispelled with a pop, as well as Anko's and Fuu's, for some reason. Suddenly, Naruto could feel a _large _source of negative energy.

"You suck, Haku!" Naruto yelled at him and ran off once more, disappearing in a shunshin just as the girls appeared. Haku looked at them wide-eyed and tried to run, only for Karin to tackle him in a hug.

"Why'd you run, Haku-kun?" Karin pouted.

The other girls walked up to him. "Where is Naru-kun?" Kin demanded of the Hyouton user.

Haku gulped. "He left. I don't know where though! Gaara's clones were here… and I was teasing him about being with… you three… and they all dispelled after I mentioned Temari-san." The blonde's eyes widened and all three left in shunshins to locate Naruto before he was killed.

_Unidentified Training Ground, sometime later_

Naruto jumped over another spear of sand and then dodge-rolled under a wave of poisoned senbon. "What the hell, you two!" Naruto shouted at Gaara and Kankuro, one wielding sand, the other had Karasu out. "Are you insane? You could kill me with those!"

Kankuro merely replied with a "You'll heal." Before attempting to have Karasu slice Naruto with its four bladed arms.

Naruto jumped back and kawarimied to dodge the sudden spikes of sand that attempted to pierce him.

Naruto stayed back away from them. "Are you two seriously trying to kill me?" Naruto demanded while he parried oe of Karasu's blades with his naginata-scythe before back handspringing to avoid a wave of sand kunai.

Gaara looked at his brother jinchuuriki and then Naruto continued. "Am I really not good enough for her? How many times have I saved not only her, but both of you? And why the hell are you using the skills I aided you in learning against me? That's just insulting." Naruto pointed out. Gaara and Kankuro looked at each other and then at Naruto.

It looked like the redhead had almost convinced the two of them, and then the trio of girls appeared next to him. Naruto noticed Haku and Karin were nowhere to be found and Naruto sent a silent prayer for his friend's safety. Temari looked at the sand and needle-covered field and then glared at her siblings.

"What the hell is wrong with you two!" She demanded from them. "Are you insane?"

"That's what I was wondering…" Naruto mumbled, though the trio of kunoichi heard him easily.

"I think… maybe we should show them what happens when someone tries to hurt our Naru-kun." Kin said with a sadistic smirk on her face that sent alarms in the Sabaku brother's head.

"You're right, Kin, let's do that." Temari said, taking out her battle-fan, Kin made a few chakra strings and Fuu let her beetles crawl to the floor.

"I think Haku could use some help… wherever he is." Gaara said and shunshined away, leaving Kankuro by himself.

"G-Gaara! Come back here, you coward!" He shouted and suddenly was surrounded by the three. Naruto smiled, wiping away an imaginary tear.

"I'm so proud. Maybe this 'CRA' thing isn't so bad." Naruto said to himself as he watched Kankuro bashed with a fan, hitting himself due to Kin's chakra strings, and be covered completely in beetles, did one just go inside his catsuit? Oh… revenge is so sweet.

_20 days before the Third Exam, 2 AM, Uzumaki-Namikaze Compound_

Naruto snuck his way up the Hokage Monument, easily avoiding every ANBU and making sure to keep a barrier seal up with his chakra strings, not allowing the Hokage to spy on him. At the top of the Hokage Monument, on the _Yondaime's _head. Yes, even his thoughts were full of hatred of that man. On the Yondaime's head, inside the small clump of trees there, was a gated mansion. Naruto grinned and stepped up to the gate, admiring the seal work.

"This is definitely kaa-san's. Only an Uzumaki could make seals this well." Naruto commented to himself as he bit down on his thumb with his longer-than-normal canines and wiped his blood across the gate, which opened for him.

He stepped inside and made sure to shut the gate behind him before making his way to the single, five-story building. The house itself was completely white and very tall, with a large set of double doors to get inside. On said doors was a large, red Uzumaki spiral on the left and the Namikaze clan symbol, four-point cross with sharpened points intercepted by a silver crescent just above the bottom and just below the top, on the right door. Naruto opened the left door and walked inside to be met by a large front room with a gigantic staircase behind him that went up and then split off to the left and right before going up again towards the second floor.

The room he was in had paintings on the east wall of Kushina and Mito Uzumaki and on Minato Namikaze on the west wall. Plants sat on one table and another had an expensive looking vase. Naruto stopped paying attention to the decorations though as he followed Hitomi's directions to the most important part of the house.

On the third floor was the library of clan jutsu that now belonged to him. Opening another blood seal there, Naruto grinned at its size. There were literally, hundreds of shelves with scrolls. Looking how they were categorized, Naruto smiled wider. Half of the scrolls were either Uzumaki or Namikaze scrolls, and another quarter were regular Konoha jutsu scrolls, but the last bit? Those were intriguing. Apparently, Minato wasn't the kind, caring, and honest Hokage everyone (except Naruto) in Konoha thought. There were clan scrolls here from the Uchiha, Nara, Inuzuka, Hyuuga, Kurama, Akimichi, Yamanaka, Sarutobi, Hatake, Senju, and even the three minor clans of the Dokuton (Poison Release) using Hebi, the Kurogan (Dark Eye) wielding Yabun, and the clan with the godly fire affinity, the Fenikkusu.

"There are scrolls here from every clan in Konoha. Interesting…" Naruto said with a grin. He made his cross handseal and said "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" before five hundred Kage Bunshin surrounded him. "Seal everything into scrolls. Each bookshelf should fit into one of my personally-made storage scrolls. Use bloodseals and categorize every scroll. When you're done bring them here so I can seal them in my tattoos. Get to work!"

"Hai, Boss!" They said as one, and barely ten minutes later the library was now empty of all scrolls and all life, save for the original Naruto.

**"Wait! Before you leave, Naruto, there are two more places you should go. The Armory and the Vault. The Armory has all of the Uzumaki clan weapons, including your mother's sword, the Aka no Shi, Red Death." **Naruto nodded to Hitomi's voice from within his head. **"And the Vault contains the three Uzumaki and the two Namikaze Summoning Contracts, Minato's Hiraishin Scroll, all the money from both clans, and even the scrolls for Mito and Kushina's personal Fuinjutsu and Juinjutsu." **Naruto grinned at that prospect and made a duo of Kage Bunshin to go and grab all of the things while he took out a scroll to study some Senju Suiton jutsu to wait.

It only took half an hour for them to finish before he headed out of the compound and shunshined back to his motel room, ready to begin training tomorrow.

_Eighteen days before the Third Exam_

Naruto was walking with his blonde girlfriend, Temari, up the Hokage Monument, hand-in-hand. Temari had a look of utter happiness on her face, uncaring where they wemt, as long as she was alone with the puppet user.

They finally got to the top of the stairs up the place he used to come to think. Naruto led her over to the Shodaime's head, as him and the Nidaime were the only Hokage's he had any sort of respect for anymore. "Why are we here, Naru-kun?" Temari asked Naruto curiously.

He smiled and pointed at Konoha, and Temari sucked in her breath. The setting sun behind the village from this view was… indescribable. Naruto smiled at her reaction and hugged her from behind around the waist, setting his chin on her shoulder and watching the sun set with her, streaks of red, orange, yellow and purple reflecting from every building and the gates of Konoha and all of the lakes as well. "Beautiful." Naruto whispered in her ear.

Temari nodded. "Yeah… it is." She said, watching the wonder of nature before her.

"I wasn't talking about the sunset." Naruto replied, and Temari sported a light blush and looked at her boyfriend. "And even if I was… you're more so."

At this point, Temari couldn't take anymore and turned to look at him. She leaned in close to him and closed her eyes as he did the same. Their lips met as Temari wrapped her arms around his neck and his wrapped around her waist. The blonde kunoichi's body pressed against the redheaded Uzumaki's and that night, they spent atop the Shodaime's head in each other's arms. (Fully clothed, you bunch of perverts!)

_Seventeen days before the Third Exam_

The next day, Temari could be seen with the brightest smile on her face around Konoha, even after Naruto had to leave to go set up his Kage Bunshin for training. Kin and Fuu found her simply humming happily as she had her own two Kage Bunshin (which is her max) work on some new Fuuton jutsu she had gotten ahold of from Naruto.

They looked at each other and walked up to her, where she grinned at them.

"I take it your date with Naru-kun went well?" Kin asked her. Temari nodded.

"Well…?" Fuu asked curiously.

Temari sighed happily. "He was… amazing. First, he took me to a private dinner at this fancy restaurant he had rented out for just the two of us. I didn't even know he had the money to do that! But… they had a cook who was from Suna, and we ate a great dinner. We talked all night about… nothing. And it was great! Then he walked me around Konoha, showing me all of the places he actually liked to be when he stayed here. And you how we finished the night? He took me up to the Hokage Monument and we watched the sun set. It was so beautiful! I think my heart almost stopped when he showed it to me." Temari stopped to sigh, and suddenly her face deepened in a large blush. "And… then he called me more beautiful than that indescribable sunset. I just lost all thought at that point I… I kissed him. Kami! He is such a good kisser, I don't know how, but he is. And then he held me all night while we slept up on the Shodaime's Head, and I'm pretty sure he set up a few clones to guard us." Temari smiled once more.

"He really is amazing, you know that? Personally, I didn't want anything so fancy, and I made sure he knew. No, he took me out for a picnic inside the Forest of Death while he set up an illusion just for my entertainment. He made a Genjutsu that showed me a few of the people I hate most in the world being 'interrogated', Kin-style. I could've easily dispelled it, but it was so fun to watch! I can't believe how much he knows me. It was so thoughtful and romantic, I ended up making out with him in the middle of it to their musical screams of pain." Kin sighed dreamily while Temari and Fuu made sure to take a step back from there possibly insane friend.

"I didn't get anything so… gruesome, Kin, but I still had fun." Fuu began, warily keeping an eye on the raven-haired girl. "He took me to his mother's home behind the Hokage Monument and made me a home-cooked dinner while we talked about our lives, dreams, likes, dislikes, everything we could think of. Then he took me to one of the rooms in the house that had this weird seal… it was sort of like a hologram-type seal that could show anything the person wanted. Naruto showed me what he hoped the future for us to be. Us three, him, and all of our friends were happily in one house with kids running around playing. There was no running, no one hating us jinchuuriki. Just one, big, happy family." Fuu smiled at that, since every jinchuuriki's dream was simply that, to have their own family to love unconditionally that loved them the same way.

Then they heard a familiar voice. "I suppose I'm doing something right for all of you to be so happy about our dates." Naruto said from behind the trio of kunoichi. They immediately turned to him and wrapped him in a tight hug, smiling. Naruto grinned at his girls. "I missed you too."

"You got your Bunshin set up for training enough to spend the day with us?" Temari asked hopefully.

"Of course, Mari-chan. I'm all three of yours for the rest of the day." Naruto kissed each of his girls quickly and smiled to them as they led him into the village. "So… where are we going today?" Naruto asked.

Fuu answered him. "You're taking us shopping." Naruto almost tripped, but stayed standing and never even stopped smiling, even as inside his head a chibi version of him was crying at his wallet's funeral.

"Of course, I'd be glad too." He said, knowing the consequences of any other answer. The ensuing smiles from each kunoichi almost made up for how light his wallet would likely become. Almost.

_Konoha Clothing Store_

Naruto browsed through a few clothes he might wear at some point, unimpressed with the selection they had. The only thing even slightly acceptable was the trench coats they had made of some strange new cloth Yuki no Kuni had created called _Kevlar. _The shopkeeper had said that it was strong enough for withstand kunai, shuriken and senbon. He even allowed Naruto to test it out, and it impressed the puppet user. His claims were absolutely correct, and with a little seal work… it could probably stand up to some low-level jutsu.

Naruto grinned at the implications and had ordered a few that matched the one he currently wore that would be in before the Third Exam.

He shook himself from his thoughts as he heard his name called and turned from his browsing only to widen his eyes at his girlfriends' new attire.

Temari now wore a full-length black battle kimono and wide, red sash around her waist that hugged all her curves rather nicely. Her hitai-ite was now strapped to her forehead and her fan was firmly strapped to her back. She stood there with her hands on her hips, looking at Naruto.

Kin now wore a forest green vest with six pockets for scrolls (Chuunin Vest) over a fishnet shirt and had on a pair of dark green, black, and brown camo pants that tightly hugged her toned legs, boots on her feet and had traded out her camo scarf for a jet black one, as well as now wore her long hair in a high ponytail that dropped past her waist(like Mei Terumi).

Fuu had changed into a black, low-cut sleeveless shirt that stopped a few inches below her bust with a few more inches of fishnet showing under that and a short, black skirt cut on either side thatwas maybe an inch or two longer than Anko's with fishnet shorts under that were three inches longer than said skirt, showing off her dark skin nicely. Her red Beetle Jar was still strapped to her back, with the staps crossed in an X over her chest.

Naruto stared at them and was speechless. Temari giggled, Kin smirked, and Fuu smiled a little. Naruto put a finger to his nose to make sure it wasn't leaking any blood. "Having certain thoughts, Naru-kun?" Kin asked with her smirk still in place.

Naruto had a light blush on his face at the implication of that. "N-no! I swear I wasn't!" Naruto exclaimed, much to their amusement.

Temari went to his left side and hugged his arm. "I don't mind, Naru-kun." She whispered in his ear, pressing herself against his side.

Kin grinned and followed suit, only on his right side, pressing herself against him as well. "Me neither."

Then Fuu was hugging him from behind, pressing her curves against his back and whispered. "As long as you're the one with those thoughts." Naruto's nose finally leaked some blood, no matter how hard he was attempting to control himself.

_Konoha Bathhouse_

A certain white-haired super-pervert was busy scribbling things in his notepad when his pervert senses went off. "Someone… is in a situation perfect for my newest book! I must find them." Jiraiya then jumped from the tree he was 'researching' from and left to find this someone. They would be excellent 'research'.

_Fifteen days before Third Exam, Road to Konoha_

A certain medical mistress was heading towards Konoha at this moment. The busty, blonde Senju Tsunade had gotten a letter from her old sensei a few days ago regarding some interesting information. Apparently her godson, Naruto, was actually alive. That old man was soooo going to get it!

First he has the audacity to tell her twelve years ago that her student, Kushina, had lost her son in the Kyuubi attack, and now he says that he's not only alive… but has been missing for five years only to come back a Suna nin? Oh, she was pissed.

True, Tsunade had heard that the S-Rank Sasori had taken an Uzumaki apprentice, but she dismissed it as some other Uzumaki. After all, there was bound to be quite a few survivors of the attack on Uzu, right? There were probably a few of the Uzumakis on missions during it.

It was only too likely that someone besides her godson was that apprentice, because as far as she knew, Naruto had died that night. That's what Hiruzen had told her. It's why she left Konoha. With Dan and Nawaki dead, Kushina dead, and now her godson, she had only Shizune left. So she left the village that had taken everything from her, content to gamble and drink her life away.

Until five days ago when she had gotten that letter from Hiruzen in Tanzaku Town.

Five days of harsh traveling, with Shizune at her side. They had traveled at high Jounin speeds the first two days before Shizune began lagging behind the blonde, and so after that, Tsunade, begrudgingly, agreed they would slow down a bit to merely mid-Jounin speeds and now they were just an hour's run outside the Leaf Village.

And run they did. If only Konoha knew just what they were about to bring upon themselves.

_Training Ground 29_

Naruto was watching in interest as Gaara as Haku went at it fully, using only kenjutsu. Haku was using Senbonzakura and Aka no Shi, which Naruto had given him. Haku had nearly fainted at holding a sword as famous as one of the Seven Swords of Mist when Naruto gave it to him. Haku knew who Naruto's mother was, but never did the Hyouton-user predict he would get to see, let alone wield, the blade.

On another end of the field, Karin was off attempting to hold a kekkai fuin that Naruto designed to block and absorb Fuuton chakra as Kin and Temari constantly hammered it with the battle-fan's basic Kamaitachi no jutsu (Sickle Weasel Technique).

That left Fuu to spar with Kankuro's puppet Karasu. Her training over the last fifteen days had drastically improved her arsenal. Once Naruto found out she had a Suiton and Raiton affinity, the mint-haired jinchuuriki was forced to have her Kage Bunshin study Uzumaki and Senju Suiton and Namikaze Raiton jutsu. As long as he was her boyfriend, Naruto would make sure she could protect herself. She also learned a little bit of basic storage and battle seals.

Naruto smiled as his team, excepting Anko, was all gathered in one place to train. Each had their own Kage Bunshin in Naruto's personal training ground, ranging from three (Temari) to hundreds (Fuu, Naruto, and Karin) learning everything they could from all the scrolls Naruto had in his possession.

Just then, the redhead could feel a chakra signature fast approaching. It was obviously ANBU level and if he wasn't mistaken Naruto recognized it as "Neko. How can I help you?" Naruto said just as the Cat-masked ANBU landed beside him. Naruto gripped the staff of his naginata-scythe tightly as he continued to watch his team, all of them.

The ANBU stayed silent momentarily as she watched the Suna, Taki, and Kusa nin at work. "Forgive me for interrupting your training session, Uzumaki-san… but the Hokage and the Konoha Council requests your prescence." Naruto hummed silently as he thought it over before grinning.

"I will attend, on one condition." Naruto replied. "I can go with a guard of people I trust, to make sure nothing happens that shouldn't." Neko looked at the boy and thought.

"I cannot guarantee your request, as I don't have power to… though Hokage-sama shouldn't have any problem with that." Naruto nodded and surged his chakra, signaling all of the genin to stop. They looked at him, and tensed at the sight of Neko.

"Listen up. The _Hokage _has requested my prescence in the Council Chambers. I may or may not be allowed a guard, but if I am, I want Gaara, Haku, Karin, and one other person not of this group with me. She'll be meeting up with us at the Chambers." Naruto told them as he made a Kage Bunshin and then instantly dispelling it, causing all clones to gain his new memories. "Everyone else, find our training area in the Forest and stay there. Understood?" Gaara, Haku and Karin nodded, and the rest did so reluctantly. "Don't worry guys, it'll be fine." Naruto gave them his foxy grin and at once everything went as he commanded before Neko led them to the Hokage Tower, and then the doors to the Council Chamber. She disappeared inside and came out nodding the Hokage's approval at his guard.

Naruto held up three fingers, then two, one… when Anko appeared in a poof of smoke. Neko's eyes bulged at the Snake Mistress' arrival. "You rang, otouto?" She asked, and Naruto grinned, before looking at them seriously.

"Karin, keep your sensor up, Gaara, sand on guard, Haku, Senbonzakura should be scattered at a moment's notice, and Anko… be yourself. Hopefully it will keep them unnerved enough not to try anything. I know that warhawk Danzo will want to try and either abduct me as a weapon or kill me so I can't stand against Konoha. Understand?" His quartet of guards nodded and Naruto swept the doors open before walking in confidently, his Sealing Staff in hand used as a walking stick without the naginata or scythe seals activated.

Hiruzen smiled at the boy and his companions, faltering slightly at the grinning Anko, but staying calm on the inside. "I'm glad you could come, Naruto-kun." The Sandaime said cheerfully. Naruto cooly gazed at the current Council members there. The seven main clans, Nara, Akimichi, Yamanaka, Hyuuga, Inuzuka, Aburame, and Sarutobi were there, represented by Shikaku, Chouzu, Inoichi, Hiashi, Tsume, Shino, and Asuma respectively. Naruto inwardly grinned at the fact that he knew weaknesses to every one of their fighting styles, thanks to the scrolls from his mother's home, should he need to fight any of them or their clan.

On the outside though, he remained passive. "Good afternoon to you as well, Hokage-sama. May I introduce my guard? As you all know, this is Miturashi Anko, second-in-charge of Konoha's T&I department of ANBU. Beside her is my cousin, Uzumaki Karin. Beside her is my teammate, Yuki Haku. And beside him is the Kazekage's son, Sabaku no Gaara." Naruto said in a tone that spoke volumes of 'try anything funny and we'll all be easy enough to take you out'.

"Do you know the purpose of this meeting, Uzumaki-san?" Danzo asked.

"Would it be to persuade me into abandoning Suna and rejoining the Leaf? I doubt anything you say could convince me to do so." Naruto replied in his same cold tone.

Hiashi spoke up next. "Would it not be in your best interest to join the most powerful village, though, Uzumaki?" the Hyuuga stated rather arrogantly.

"You mean Kumo?" Naruto asked innocently. "At this point, they really are. With two jinchuuriki, one being of the Hachibi, and they're solely militaristic. Or perhaps Suna, as they hold myself, the Ichibi and the Nanabi, as well as the last Yuki, and the last two known Uzumakis, and that's just half of my comrades here now. You'll need a bigger reason than that."

"Troublesome." Shikaku mumbled and looked at the redheaded puppet-user. "What about the fact that three of the greatest shinobi of their generation existed here?"

Naruto inwardly smirked, hoping that subject would be brought up, as he felt an angry chakra signature approaching his location rapidly. "Oh yes, you must mean the super-pervert that was easily dispatched by the student in fuinjutsu," Naruto glanced at Karin, "Jiraiya of the Toads, the traitorous, pale-skinned hebi-teme that gave your Uchiha an evil hicky, as well as my Onee-chan, Orochimaru of the Snakes and finally…"

The doors suddenly flew off the hinges showing an angry blonde woman holding Jiraiya by the scruff of the neck and then threw him inside. "An angry godmother and the most talented medic in the shinobi world, Senju Tsunade of the Slugs."

The blonde turned her head to the voice that spoke her name, who waved. She saw a boy who looked like that bastard Minato, with whisker marks, purple eyes, and spiked, red hair holding a black staff laiden in intricate sealwork. "Gaki, what's your name?" She asked the redhead.

"Hey, Tsu-obaachan! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, I take it you got my let-" he didn't finish as the blonde woman had him in a hug instantly, crushing his spine and suffocating him between her massive breasts. Naruto squirmed under her death grip and once she let go of him, Naruto fell to his knees, gasping for air.

Once Naruto recovered and stood, he smiled at the blonde slug sennin. "I guess I timed that letter really well then. With you arriving just in time." Tsunade looked at the boy curiously.

"YOU sent that letter? But it was in Hiruzen's handwriting…" Naruto grinned.

"But, it wasn't signed, was it? I knew copying his handwriting and sending a letter would get you here, Obaa-chan (Auntie). And I also figured that you didn't even know I was alive… did you?" The blonde shook her head.

"No, _Sensei_" She said with an acidic tone, "said you were dead. Said you died with Kushi-chan… so I left this place that seems to have given up my great-grandfather's ideals." Naruto smiled at the woman, nodding.

The Council was flabbergasted, and Tsume voiced it. "Tsu-tsunade-sama?" She asked, and the blonde-haired Sannin glared at her. "Why have you come back?"

Tsunade placed an arm around Naruto's shoulder. "For my godson, of course." The Council gasped at this. This whole time, Tsunade was the jonchuuriki's godmother? "And to beat that good-for-nothing pervert for not taking care of Kushina's son! I should've killed him, but I would probably be locked up for such a thing. So, I'll content myself with aiding Naruto now, for twelve years of neglect, in any way I can, it doesn't even matter if he's not a Konoha nin anymore."

Danzo and Hiruzen were slightly angry and thought as one _'This complicates matters. With one of the Sannin, and arguably the most powerful one, depending on the person arguing, we can't hope to do anything about him now.' _

"Now come, Naruto, you can stay in the Senju compound the rest of your stay here in Konoha." Tsunade said cheerfully, while still glaring at Hiruzen before leading him and his four guards away.

_Ten days until the Third Exam_

Naruto continued to make his way through the Senju compound that his entire team was staying in, hoping to turn Tsunade against Konoha further than she was in order to get her to come with him. With her on his side… all his plans would become much easier. So Naruto continued his search for the busty blonde medic, a stack of files in hand that he had gotten from the Vault in the Namikaze-Uzumaki Compound.

He finally felt her rather large chakra signature and knocked on the door to her bedroom, also feeling Shizune's signature inside. _'Perfect.' _ "Obaa-chan, it's me! Can I come in?" Naruto asked, wary of ever walking in on her indecent, for fear of having something that happened to Jiraiya happen to him.

"Come in, Naruto-kun!" Tsunade allowed, and Naruto opened up the door, to see the two on the bed, with Tonton, Shizune's pig, on the floor asleep.

Naruto smiled at them a bit sadly, before shutting the door. "Tsunade-obaachan… you're not going to like this. But I felt you should see it. See, about ten days ago, I went inside my mother's old house and got everything of mine from the library, armory, and vault. I was going through a few of the scrolls earlier, when I found this." Naruto placed a scroll in Tsunade's lap. "That's the mission report for Dan's last mission." Tsunade looked at Naruto curiously before opening the scroll.

She read through it, and Naruto felt her anger rise rapidly and her KI increase as she read through the report he had already seen.

In short, Dan's scouting mission during the war had purposefully been a suicide mission. The Sandaime Hokage himself had given the enemy forces the information of where he would be for one, singular purpose. To rile Tsunade up enough to have her want to kill any enemy shinobi she came across, in order to make her an efficient weapon. The mission was at first remarked a success, until it was found out that Tsunade's Hemophobia was a result of not being able to heal her lover, and thus marked a failure.

Naruto placed a hand on his godmother's shoulder, calming her as she looked at him. Naruto noticed Shizune was reading the scroll now, and paling dramatically. "Obaa-chan… I know how angry you must feel right now. And I can't bring Dan back to life… but I can tell you this. Tsu-obaachan, Orochimaru is planning to attack Konoha soon. He is leader of the village of Oto, and has convinced the Kazekage to have Suna aid in this upcoming invasion." Naruto paused. "Konoha made my life hell, ruined anything I could've had here, just like you. Will you join me during the invasion to get back at this place?"

Without hesitation, the Slug Sennin nodded. "My great-granfather's dream is gone. This place must be eradicated to erase the shame upon the Senju name. I will help you, Naruto-kun. For my great-grandfather, for Dan, and for Kushi-chan." Naruto smiled at her.

Shizune spoke up, and Naruto felt a hate even greater from her. She had been very close with her uncle Dan, after all, he had adopted her as his daughter once her parents died during the Second Shinobi World War. "I'm in as well. They did something unforgivable to tou-san."

Naruto smiled at her too. "Then I'll have to train you two as well in the art of Kage Bunshin Training to up our skills in the next week and a half." Naruto nodded to himself. "But that can wait until tomorrow. Obaa-chan… do you know where Mito-sama was buried here in the Compound?" Tsunade looked at Naruto slightly skeptical but figured it was just an Uzumaki paying respects, and told him.

_One day before the Third Exam_

Naruto and his clones finished the complicated seal array that they had spent days creating. In the center was the bodies of Mito Uzumaki, from the Senju graveyard, and Kushina Uzumaki, from the Namikaze-Uzumaki graveyard. Hitomi had swore up and down this would work. Only one way to find out…

Naruto had four clones form his Uzumaki Kekkai Fuin before activating the complex seal array not with chakra, but with pure youkai. The barrier would keep all traces of the tainted chakra within the room, which was his only worry about this.

The basement of the Senju Compound glowed bright crimson as Naruto entered his One-tailed Cloak. Complex array upon array showed all over the floor, walls, and even ceiling and then they began to move towards the two corpses in the middle of the room.

Red marking covered Mito and Kushina as Naruto struggled to keep up the constant youkai before entering two-tails. **"Just a little more, Naruto." **Hitomi ordered. **"This will work. Only a former jinchuuriki can have this technique used on them, and both of them were former jinchuuriki of myself, making it more likely to succeed. Come on… come on… and one final push!" **

Naruto did as she told and shot forth a pulse of youkai at the bodies, that were no longer covered in seals. Panting, the boy made his way to their bodies to see one thing that made him grin.

Both had de-aged to their mid-twenties and now had eyes opened, looking curiously at the redhead that had interrupted their time in the afterlife.

"Hello, Baa-chan, Kaa-chan. Welcome back to the world of the living. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I brought you back for a second chance, and for a chance to have revenge on the Leaf that caused the death of every Uzumaki at Uzushio nearly a century ago."

Kushina sat up, wide-eyed at her son, and Mito looked at him curiously while saying two words that made his hopes fly. "I'm listening."

_Original Seals_

_Uzumaki-Ryuu Kekkai Fuin (Uzumaki-Style Barrier Seal)- Creates a four-point barrier that blocks out all chakra and sound from leaving and anyone from outside from seeing inside. Physical forms may in fact enter through the barrier, as it is only ethereal._

**Chapter End!**

**That's all the big stuff that happened over the month-break. Some minor things may show up in flashbacks during the Third Exam, but that's basically it.**

**You'll find out what exactly Hitomi's seal actually did and how it worked in the next chapter.**

**Next Chapter you'll also find out if Mito and Kushina join Naruto's quest as well as just how they react to his recounting of his life in Konoha.**

**Now, I need to know, how did this chapter go? It's the longest one I've done, by far, and I must know.**

**How good was the fluff? (I suppose it was pretty bad, but I'm new to romance in stories!)**

**How well did I pull off this whole 'month of training' chapter in flowing?**

**And how was the chapter overall?**

**Anyways… next chapter will be the much awaited fights of the Third Exam. And before anyone asks, no, there have been no lemon scenes behind closed doors up to this point, nor will there be for the next few chapters. Give it some time though, and all you perverts and super-perverts will have your fun.**

**As always R&R and PM me with questions about this story.**

**Until next time, Orpheus out!**


	12. Chapter XII

**Naruto of the Red Sands**

**Chapter XII**

**Hey guys! I have here the next chapter of Red Sands for all of my wonderful readers!**

**Review Time!**

**Peter Kim: Wrong! And plus Gaara's dad is the Yondaime Kazekage, not the Sandaime.**

**Guest: Tsunade's only S-rank for her medic skills and super-strength. She has no nin, gen, fuin, or kenjutsu, and poor taijutsu. With her perfect chakra control, Naruto, with all the scrolls he's obtained as well as the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, could teach her so much. Never underestimate the power of knowledge! Even an S-rank nin can still learn.**

**Bunnyguest: Did I ever specifically state Hiruzen admitted to doing that? Naruto is a Puppetmaster, pulling the strings on both his techniques and on surrounding people to get what he desires.**

**Guest: What can I say? I just don't like Minato very much. It's not that he's weak, it's just that he's an idiotic idealist that sees too much good in everyone. For that, I will likely bash him over my stories.**

**Guest: I realize how it seems, but flashbacks will be imminent! Also… do you really believe that? If she could get rid of that Snake's Curse Mark, she would do anything.**

**Anyways, hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

"**Hello, Baa-chan, Kaa-chan. Welcome back to the world of the living. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I brought you back for a second chance, and for a chance to have revenge on the Leaf that caused the death of every Uzumaki at Uzushio nearly a century ago."**

** Kushina sat up, wide-eyed at her son, and Mito looked at him curiously while saying two words that made his hopes fly. "I'm listening."**

Naruto looked at the two Uzumakis before him, each easily on the level of Kage. Uzumaki Mito was just as powerful as her husband. Kushina as probably more powerful than the Yondaime.

"Mito-sama," Naruto began "I have, since I left Konoha almost six years ago, had suspicion that they in fact betrayed Uzushiogakure no Sato. My suspicions only grew as I learned more and more about the Uzumakis legendary fuinjutsu abilities. Finally, about two weeks ago, I broke into the very estate that Hiruzen and the Council denied me as I grew up an orphan. Within the Namikaze-Uzumaki complex I found some very interesting scrolls that were kept there from the Sandaime's time. Some very interesting scrolls dating back to the birth of Konoha."

Mito looked curious, while Kushina asked. "What do you mean… an orphan? Surely Jiraiya or Tsunade took care of you?" Naruto shook his head.

"Not at all. That was something in the scroll I found. Apparently… the Council made a decision without the Sandaime's approval involving Tsunade. Danzou, under a henge, told Tsunade that I was dead the day after the Kyuubi attack. It proved too much for her to bear, and she left the village, her apprentice, Shizune, in tow. Jiraiya, in his infinite wisdom and loyalty to the 'Prophecy of the Toads' went with the Council's plan, even though he knew who I was and knew I was alive. I already forgave Tsunade-obachan, and that's why we're in the Senju Compound right now." Mito nodded and Kushiina was gritting her teeth.

"So, the plan was actually to make me an orphan, and the Elder's told the Civilian Council my jinchuuriki status, who told the entire population of Konoha. My years in the orphanage were spent in beatings, being bullied, and hating the place. On my fifth birthday, the anniversary of the Kyuubi attack, I was kicked out of the orphanage and almost killed on the streets after a mob beat me half to death. Only the intervention of Kyu-chan saved me, and that's when I met her. Two years after that, two years filled with abuse and torment, I left the village. Not even two days later, with the help of my sensory abilities, I met my sensei, Akasuna no Sasori, who taught me about puppetry." Mito looked at Naruto with a smile, while Kushina had pride in her eyes.

"Shortly after, on a trip we took to Kiri, I saved the last Yuki clan member, and my best friend, Haku. Another year and a half later, and I met Kin-chan after saving her from being raped in Oto no Kuni." Naruto paused. "Then afterwards, the four of us eventually made our way to Sunagakure no Sato, where we became shinobi. It was there that I made friends with the Yondaime Kazekage's children, Gaara, a fellow jinchuuriki of the Ichibi, Kankuro, a fellow puppeteer, and Temari-chan. Eventually both their team and mine became like… well like a family. Then we came to Konoha for the Chuunin Exams, and met a few more members of our family. Anko-nee, Fuu-chan, and Karin-chan. Anko was Orochimaru's former apprentice, Fuu, the Nanabi jinchuuriki, and Karin is my cousin, and another Uzumaki."

"And this scroll?" Mito asked while Kushina had a thoughtful expression.

"I'm getting to that. Among the secrets it revealed… Danzou gave info on the weaknesses of Uzu to Iwa, Kiri, and Kumo; Uzu was destroyed just so kaa-san would have nowhere to go after she became jinchuuriki, and the Kumo shinobi that kidnapped you, kaa-san, they were actually hired by the Elder Council and Hiruzen so that Minato could save you and you would become loyal to Konoha. Almost all of the island of Uzu no Kuni was wiped out, just so Konoha could keep a loyal weapon. So… will you two join me?"

Kushina looked at Naruto with a smile. "Of course I'll follow you, sochi. I need to pay back a few Council members anyways for the way they treated me. I just have two questions… how am I alive?"

"That's an easy one. See, Kyu-chan and I developed a seal that could revive any one that at one point or another was a demon container. It works best if the current one uses the seal, but any jinchuuriki can basically revive a former one. Only thing is… it basically revives you and puts you in your prime. That's why Mito-sama looks only in her late twenties, as do you, kaa-san."

"My other question, sochi, is… which one of the girls is your girlfriend?" Naruto blushed a little.

"Kaa-san!" Mito decided to help her reviver.

"Naruto-san, explain something to me. After Konoha is gone… what will you do?"

"Well, Mito-sama… I will return to Suna for a few months, and if nothing extraordinary happens to keep me there… I'll probably try to find more Uzumakis and bring them back, as the Uzumaki clan is now situated there." Mito nodded.

"I will aid you, on the condition that we head to Uzushio in the near future. You are the heir to Uzushio, as you were Kushina's son, and there are many things on the island belonging to you." Naruto smiled and bowed his head.

"Of course, Mito-sama, Arigato."

"So… sochi? Which one?"

"KAA-SAN!"

_Chuunin Exam Arena_

All of the Chuunin Exam finalists stood waiting on the arena floor. Every single one was there except a certain Uchiha brat.

Gemna soon appeared in the middle of them and began explaining the rules for the civilians/Daimyo/nobles. Meanwhile, Naruto was simply half-listening, still planning what puppets he should use. Everyone was in for a big surprise at Naruto's new secret weapons. Sasori-sensei did always say Kage were the best puppets…

But besides his new puppets, Naruto had plans for what would happen. The Kazekage had already told Naruto that the invasion would start in the second match of the second round, which would be Uchiha Sasuke versus either him, Gaara or Temari. Probably Naruto.

That worked fine for Naruto's purposes.

Suddenly, in a cloud of smoke, the Uchiha and his sensei appeared on the arena floor. "We're not late, are we?" Kakashi asked. "Sasuke wanted to get some extra training in." Gemna waved it off.

"Right on time." Gemna then announced. "The Chuunin Exams will now begin. Will everyone but Yuki Haku and Hyuuga Neji stay here? Due to an unfortunate accident over the month break, Kinuta Dosu is unable to fight in this round." Everyone but the two left in shunshins, such was the amount of skill these genin had.

"Hajime!"

_Chuunin Competitor Box_

Naruto and the Suna genin readied themselves to watch Haku's match. "How you think Haku will do?" Temari asked.

"He'll take the Hyuuga out. The Hyuuga may be fast, but Haku is probably at mid-Jounin speed, even without his Ice Mirrors, and that makes him almost untraceable. Don't worry, Mari-chan. Haku will definitely win. He may end up playing around with Neji for a bit though." Gaara agreed whole-heartedly.

"He is my rival of the blade, Temari, there is wa he would lose once he begins using kenjutsu."

_Kage Box_

The Kage Box was occupied by the Sandaime Hokage, Sandaime Tsuchikage, and Yondaime Kazekage currently. Oonoki originally didn't plan oncoming, but his granddaughter made it this far, so he would watch her.

"Ah, the first match already and two geniuses of our villages." 'Kazekage' commented. "I hear that Hyuuga is a natural-born genius of taijutsu, and Haku is a genius in kenjutsu. He actually recreated the style of the ancient kenjutsu grandmaster Kuchiki Byakuya, you know."

Oonoki looked surprised. "Truly? The Senbonzakura Mai? At his age? Seems he really is a prodigy if you're right."

_Audience_

Karin smirked as she heard Gemna give the signal to begin. Her Haku-kun could definitely take him out. Sitting right next to the redhead was Fuu wearing a multi-layered henge to escape the sights of her sensei. "Haku's going to win." Fuu said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, you know it, Fuu. There's no way a lowly Hyuuga could ever beat him."

_Arena Floor_

"Hajime!"

Haku calmly drew his ice sword and muttered _"Chire Senbonzakura." (Scatter Thousand Cherry Blossoms) _The blade scattered all over the field, glinting in the sunlight as they became near invisible. Haku put the hilt back on his waist and pulled out his steel sword, as well as the red-bladed katana Naruto had gifted to him. Neji narrowed his eyes at the Suna nin. "This… is my new three blade style, Neji-san. You are the first to witness it." Neji fell into the Juupo stance, readying himself.

"Do not even bother, for I am already fated to win." Neji said to the pale boy.

Haku smiled at that. "Do not speak of fate and destiny, Neji-san, you will only find them as something to blame when I take you out!" Haku disappeared in an impressive display of speed behind Neji. Just as he was about to run Neji through with his steel katana, Haku was blown back. _"Hakke: Kaiten!" (Eight Trigrams Heavenly Rotation) _Haku flipped to right himself and land on his feet. Neji was smirking at Haku.

"You cannot hit me, I have the perfect defense." Haku sighed.

"Man… I really didn't want to reveal anything else…" Naruto crossed his swords in an X and soon the petals of his senbonzakura coated them, extending their reach by three feet. _"Ni Sakura no Yaiba!" (Two Cherry Blossom Blades) _Haku used a Hyou Shunshin to get above Neji, aiming both sword to strike Neji in a double vertical slash. Neji did another _Kaiten _and Haku pressed his blades against the spinning dome of chakra. After ten seconds both people were blown back harshly, Haku landing a few feet away, Neji hitting a wall and forming spiderweb cracks. All over his body, were shallow cuts bleeding.

Haku had allowed some of the petal-sized blades to travel on the currents of Neji's chakra dome, constantly cutting him as he spun. The Hyuuga's chakra control became unstable after ten seconds, causing an explosion of chakra that sent both of them back.

Gemna checked Neji's vitals and deemed him unconscious. "Winner by knockout, Yuki Haku!" The medics came and carted Neji away as Haku used a Hyou Shunshin to get up to the Competitors' Box.

_Kage Box_

'Kazekage' nodded, obviously content. "Yes, just as I expected from one of the two kenjutsu prodigy genin in my village."

Sarutobi, while impressed, tried not to show it. "Oh? Who's the other?"

"Why… my son, Gaara." Hiruzen nodded while Oonoki looked at the arena, as his granddaughter was up next.

_Arena Floor_

Gemna announced the next three competitors. "Will Routenbin no Kurotsuchi, Shogunmoto Subeta, and Tsuchi Kin please come to the arena?" In a trio of shunshins of lava, wind, and needles, the girls appeared in a triangle around Gemna. "Hajime!" The proctor shunshined away from them as they readied.

Subeta hefted her large blade, Kurotsuchi set her hands in a handseal, and Kin brought out her four-fan and Earth Mace combo.

_"Youton: Youkai no Jutsu!" (Lava Release: Melting Apparition Technique) _Kurotsuchi shouted, sending out a large cloud of molten liquid above Subeta and Kin that dropped down towards them quickly. Kin quickly disappeared underground and Subeta threw one of the blades that made up her zanbato at a wall, teleporting to its location. Kurotsuchi quickly jumped back then just as Kin came out of the ground, none of her weapons in sight and performing rapid handseals. _"Fuuton: Kaze no Yaiba!" (Wind Style: Wind Blades) _Kin began to make slashing motions with her left middle and index fingers, releasing six invisible blades of wind straight at Kurotsuchi.

The girl's eyes widened as she flew through handseals. _"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique) _Kurotsuchi launched off a large fireball at the half a dozen wind blades, overtaking each one and hitting Kin directly. This Kin simply liquefied into mud. "A clone!" Kurotsuchi exclaimed as she was suddenly pulled to the floor, buried from the neck down in rubble of the arena floor and soon knocked out by Kin with a chop to the neck. Just as Kin was going to fight Subeta, she felt five blades pointed at her throat. Turning her eyes, she saw four copies and the original Subeta, each holding her sword at her neck. Kin sighed and raised her hand, "I forfeit!"

"Winner, Shogunmono Subeta!"

_Kage Box_

"Who is that girl with the swords?" Oonoki asked.

"That is Shogunmono Subeta, a genin from the newly formed Otogakure no Sato." Hiruzen commented. "I saw her fighting style in the Preliminaries… she is descendant of the Strife swordmaster clan and the Lockhart clan of taijutsu specialists. She wields that zanbato surprisingly well and can even use a technique akin to the Hiraishin with it, though only between the five swords."

Kazekage nodded. "Yes, she is quite the opponent."

_Competitor Box_

Kin was fuming as she appeared back at Naruto's side. "I can't believe this! Damn swords!" Naruto sighed and grabbed her hand to soother her.

"Don't worry, Kin-chan. It'll all work out. Won't matter much, anyhow." Kin's anger dissipated after she saw her blonde boyfriend's smile.

"Th-thanks, Naru-kun." She said, leaning against him more.

_Audience_

Mito and Kushina, both disguised as Konoha civilians, nodded at the display. "Naruto did not exaggerate his claims." Mito commented.

"No kidding, Naru-kun definitely described her teleportation technique right. Too bad he hasn't mastered the Hiraishin yet."

"Once that happens… I fear no one can survive his assault."

_Arena Floor_

"Will Uchiha Sasuke, Abumi Zaku, and Sabaku no Kankuro come to the arena?"

"I forfeit!" Kankuro called out as Zaku and Sasuke appeared down in the field, much to everyone's confusion. Gemna nodded and simply called out "Hajime!"

As soon as he did… Sasuke disappeared in a burst of speed and hit Zaku under the chin with the heel of his foot. Then with a sudden shunshin, he appeared above Zaku and sent an ax kick to his back. _"Shishi Rendan!" (Lion's Barrage) _Zaku hit the floor in a small crater and Sasuke was declared the winner. A smirk was firmly on his face, his arrogant ego rising.

_Kage Box_

"Nothing less than I would expect from an Uchiha." Kazekage idly noted.

_Arena Floor_

"The final battle of round 1, will Sabaku no Temari, Sabaku no Gaara, and Uzumaki Naruto please come down!" In a trio of wind, sand, and poison shunshins respectively, the Suna nin appeared around Gemna in a triangle formation. "Hajime!"

Gaara released the cork on his gourd, Naruto readied his naginata-scythe, and Temari opened her fan to the first moon.

As one, they met in the middle, Gemna barely shunshining away in time to avoid their attacks.

Gaara swung a sand scythe at Temari's head, and she ducked under it, hitting her brother in the gut with her closed fan. Naruto used the opportunity to sweep kick Temari's legs from under her and swung his naginata side at Gaara. The Ichibi jinchuuriki parried with a wakizashi of sand before sending a wave of Suna senbon straight at his fellow redhead. Naruto kawarimied with a piece of nearby rubble from the last match and appeared behind Temari, attempted to send a spinning kick to her head. The blonde ducked underneath and made some chakra strings to pull on his left arm, sending her boyfriend tumbling to the ground.

Gaara's sand formed a volley of sand kunai that Temari had deflect with a _"Kamaitcahi no Jutsu!" (Sickle Weasel Technique) _In that time, Naruto had recovered and jumped back far away from the two siblings, his staff arrays glowing as he released four puppets, Kage, Hikari, Yuri, and Kurochi, the Iwa nin he had turned into a puppet, although Kurochi now had blood red hair, and violet eyes.

Naruto controlled them with his right hand, one finger controlling each of the puppets. Temari and Gaara jumped to the other side of the arena once they saw Naruto get serious and nodded to one another, teaming up to try and win against him. Temari fully opened her fan and Gaara's sand gathered in a wave her prepared to send at Naruto.

_"Sunaton: Nami no Suna!" (Sand Release: Wave of Sand) "Dai Kamaitachi no Justu!" (Great Sickle Weasel Technique) _Then as one, _"Konbijutsu: Dai Uzu Sunaarashi!" (Collaboration Technique: Great Whirling Sandstorm) _The wave of sand soon was carried by the whirlwind of sand and created a giant tornado of dust that headed straight for Naruto's puppets.

Yuri and Kurochi went through handseals. _"Ototon: Surudoi Banshii!" (Sound Release: Screeching Banshee) _Yuri opened his mouth and a shockwave of sound burst forth in the form of a supersonic screech (making a certain Haruno girl green with envy). Kurochi finished his and threw a vial of blood on the ground. _"Ketton: Chi Supaiku!" (Blood Release: Blood Spikes) _Three long spikes of blood formed and shot at the dust storm, being caught up in it as Kurochi formed another set of seals. _"Ketton: Baku no Kesshou!" (Blood Release: Plasma Explosion) _The blood within soon exploded in electrified water, turning the sand to cracked pieces of rubble and stopping the wind.

Kage opened her eyes to reveal black sclera with a red iris and a black pentagram within it, the pupil gone. _"Chitsuki Kageyochi Kurogan: Imashime no Kage!" (Blood Moon Shadow World Dark Eye: Bindings of Shadow) _Using the third and final level of the Kurogan that granted the wielder perfect control of shadows, Kage wrapped up Temari and Gaara in cocoons of their own shadows, forcing them to the ground as Hikari did her own seals. _"Koton: Kinko Senbon!" (Light Release: Imprisonment Needles) _the surrounding sunlight formed into a thousand needles surrounding each one, ready to launch off at either of them if they moved.

Temari and Gaara both forfeited, and Gemna named Naruto the winner.

_Kage Box_

The three Kage were speechless at the puppeteer's display. Even Orochimaru in his 'Kazekage' guise.

"A Level Three Kurogan…"

"The Blood Release…"

"To control four puppets on one hand…"

Those were the whispers of the Hokage, Tsuchikage, and 'Kazekage' respectively.

_Audience_

In the Yabun section of the audience, the clan was in a fury. The demon had killed one of their own and mastered the doujutsu! He knew all of their secrets!

_Arena Floor_

"The Semi-finals will now begin! Will Yuki Haku and Shogunmono Subeta come down here?" The two arrived instantly, grinning at this fight.

"Hajime!" Haku automatically activated his Senbonzakura and Subeta threw one of the five blades of her zanbato at him.

With a kawarimi, Haku disappeared in the now dense cloud of blade that surrounded where he once was. Subeta felt his chakra signature within the cloud before he jumped out, Aka no Shi falling in a vertical slash, which she blocked with her heavy sword. Subeta detached one of her blades, the hunting knife one, and swung at Haku who merely parried with his steel sword before having his petal-sized blades attempt to slice her up. Subeta kawarimied away, only to have Haku there, attempting to bisect her at the waist.

Subeta jumped back and launched three kunai at Haku, which were quickly blocked by a wall of his blades. Haku performed handseals as he sheathed his katana. _"Hyouton: Hyou Senbon!" (Ice Release: Ice Needles) _Out of the moisture in the air, hundreds of ice needles formed and launched directly at Subeta, who threw her hunting knife and teleported to its location. Haku grinned and performed two quick sets of one-handed seals. _"Hyouton: Hyouryuudan! Hyouton: Hyouketsu Kiri no Jutsu!" (Ice Release: Ice Dragon Missile; Ice Release: Freezing Mist Technique) _Out of the air materialized a dragon of ice, which sped at Subeta, who teleported away after throwing her third blade. Then Haku breathed out a deep blue mist that Subeta teleported away from once more, leaving her with one single blade, a broadsword.

"You are very good, Haku-san." Subeta said and stabbed her blade into the ground, setting her hands in a half-tiger, half-ram seal. "But not good enough!" Haku saw he was in the center of the arena with the five blades at five points, and then each one glew a different color. One blue, one yellow, one white, one red, and one brown. Instantly, they each shot out two beams of chakra to two other blades, soon forming a pentagram with Haku in the center. "This is my ultimate attack, where each blade is filled with a different elemental chakra! _Goken-Ryuu: Baku no Goton!" (Five Blade Style: Five Release Explosion) _Subeta jumped back as the five swords rose to levitate above the ground and spun rapidly before disappearing in a burst of speed and hitting the floor at Haku's feet. Then each released their chakra and the ground at Haku's feet exploded, sending him barreling into a wall, where he slumped into unconsciousness.

"Winner by knockout, Shogunmono Subeta!"

_Kage Box_

"Those two are definitely deserving of Chuunin. Especially that Subeta. She perfectly led Haku into the position she wanted, without ever looking like she was."

"Yes, but Haku also was doing the same. Before that kenjutsu technique, I spotted the cloud of blades being maneuvered to completely surround her." Oonoki argued against Hiruzen.

_Competitor Box_

"Haku… lost… in a kenjutsu battle." Kankuro breathed shakily, still unbelieving of the facts.

"I saw that." Naruto replied cooly as Haku was taken to the medical ward. Naruto could see Tsunade getting up from the audience to go see to him, he needed to be healed in time for the invasion. "He'll be fine, and just be glad Subeta's on our side." Naruto said with a tone of finality as he and Sasuke were called to the Arena.

_Arena Floor_

Naruto and Sasuke jumped back from each other as soon as Gemna called for them to start, sending out wave after wave of shuriken and kunai on Sasuke's side and shuriken and senbon on Naruto's side that simply deflected off each other's projectiles. Sasuke then performed his _"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique) _which Naruto fended off with a _"Suiton: Suijinheki!" (Water Release: Water Encampment Wall)_

In the thick mist that ensued, Sasuke was forced to activate his three-tomoed Sharingan to see anything. When the mist finally dispersed, all of the audience was sleeping because of a Genjutsu save for the more experienced ninja. That wasn't what stopped Sasuke's heart though, it was the three puppets Naruto now controlled.

"So, Uchiha, let me introduce my family. From my mother's side… Senju Hashirama and Tobirama, and my father, Namikaze Minato. Can your Sharingan keep up with three Kages?"

_Original Jutsu_

"_Konbijutsu: Dai Uzu Sunaarashi!" (Collaboration Technique: Great Whirling Sandstorm) A collaboration technique between Gaara's Sand Wave and Temari's Great Sickle Weasel Technique, that creates a tornado of sand. A-rank._

"_Ototon: Surudoi Banshii!" (Sound Release: Screeching Banshee) The user releases a scream amplified by chakra to become supersonic and capable of disrupting gusts of wind, flames, cracking earth, and basting away water._

"_Ketton: Chi Supaiku!" (Blood Release: Blood Spikes) Blood in the surrounding area is formed into two-foot long spikes that can be sent to a target._

"_Ketton: Baku no Kesshou!" (Blood Release: Plasma Explosion) Surrounding blood is overloaded, causing its plasma to explode from within._

"_Chitsuki Kageyochi Kurogan: Imashime no Kage!" (Blood Moon Shadow World Dark Eye: Bindings of Shadow) Using the third and final level of the Kurogan, the user wraps a target in their own shadow, rendering them immobile._

"_Koton: Kinko Senbon!" (Light Release: Imprisonment Needles) A thousand needles of light are formed around a target, giving them no opportunity to escape, and the user can cause the needles to converge on the target at a moment's notice, completely destroying the target._

_Goken-Ryuu: Baku no Goton!" (Five Blade Style: Five Release Explosion) Subeta has her five blades at five points around a target and activates their innate elements. The fire, water, earth, wind, and lightning chakras create strings that connect the blades until a pentagram is formed with the target in the center. The blades then levitate, point inches from the ground and spin rapidly before converging at the feet of the target, and then releasing the five natures of chakra simultaneously, causing an explosion. A-rank._

**Chapter End!**

**And that's the Third Round of the Chuunin Exams! Next chapter will contain the invasion and you'll even find out what Sasori was up to that whole time!**

**That's pretty much it…**

**R&R! PM me with questions! Flames will be dutifully ignored!**

**Until next time, Orpheus out!**


	13. Chapter XIII

**Naruto of the Red Sands**

**Chapter XIII**

**And here's the much anticipated chapter of Naruto of the Red Sands! I know a lot of you probably hate me for my cliffhanger… too bad! Just be glad that the Uchiha is going to be beaten so soundly this chapter.**

**Anyways… Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Nope. I don't own Naruto, or Final Fantasy VII.**

_Arena Floor_

Sasuke stood still in absolute fear at Naruto's statement. He hadn't felt this much terror since… no… not even Itachi could strike so much fear into him. Itachi was just one man, true, he was Kage level at the time of the massacre, but these were three of the _gods _of shinobi… those few people that were considered idols in their home village and demons in the enemy villages. And Sasuke had to fight… three of them.

"What's wrong, Sasu-chan?" Naruto asked in mock curiosity. "What happened to that Uchiha superiority? Isn't the Sharingan the most powerful kekkai genkai? More powerful than the Mokuton? You should be able to beat me no problem, right?" Sasuke growled at that and activated his three-tomoed Sharingan, which already began spinning rapidly as he glared at the puppeteer.

"Get ready to die, Uzumaki!"

_Kage Booth_

As soon as the Temple of Nirvana Genjutsu was active, the Kage Booth erupted in action. The 'Kazekage' jumped up through the top to the roof, with Hiruzen in tow and Oonoki followed right after before a barrier sprung up around the three Kage. Hiruzen jumped back as soon as he could and glared at the two other Kage. "I should have known this would happen. Especially with you running the show… Orochimaru." The 'Kazekage' threw off his robes and removed his veil to reveal the Snake Sannin. Hiruzen followed suit and removed his own robes to reveal his battle gear.

"Hello, Sarutobi-sensei." Orochimaru spoke with a sick grin. "Are you ready to die?"

_Konoha Gates_

The Konoha shinobi stationed at the Northern Wall saw a large cloud of smoke just beyond said wall and suddenly three large serpents appeared and crashed down atop the wall, toppling it and allowing Suna, Oto, and Iwa shinobi and kunoichi to rush inside the village, attacking anyone in their sight.

_Arena Stands_

Fuu, Karin, Mito, and Kushina all got rid of their disguises and separated towards their targets…

_Competitor's Box_

The genin hopefuls inside the box, which consisted of Temari, Kin, Kankuro, Gaara, Kurotsuchi, Subeta and the newly arrived Haku, Zaku, Dosu readied themselves for the oncoming invasion. They separated into their specific teams, Temari and Kin, Haku and Gaara, Zaku and Dosu, Kurotsuchi alone, Kankuro alone, and Subeta alone, before making their way into the village to the places they were assigned.

_Arena Floor_

Naruto grinned as Genma and Kakashi landed next to the Uchiha and gaped at his puppets. "Like them, proctor? Inu?" Naruto said humorfully.

"Those are the Hokages! How did you…!" Genma shouted only for the redhead to laugh loudly.

"I have the right. Two of these are my cousins, and the last is my own father. Ironic that they'll be Konoha's undoing, eh?" Kakashi's eye widened.

"Y-you're sensei's son?" Kakashi asked. This brought a scowl to Naruto's face.

"I wish I wasn't. That damn man caused me nothing but trouble. No matter, I will use him to take you all out."

Kakashi lifted his headband, revealing his Sharingan, and Naruto merely smiled. "Let me show you what I learned during my trip to my mother's house." Suddenly, Naruto threw a kunai with a tag on it in the middle of the floor. The three Konoha nin jumped back, and the tag suddenly released a thousand kunai in every direction. Tri-pronged kunai. Kakashi's eyes widened at this and suddenly… Minato was behind Genma. _"Rasengan!" (Spiraling Sphere) _The proctor died with a Rasengan through his back.

Kakashi grimaced and looked at Sasuke. "Run. If you stay, you won't survive." Sasuke stayed. "If you die, you can't kill Itachi." That got the Uchiha's attention, and he took off into the village. That left only Kakashi versus three of the greatest shinobi to ever exist.

_Kage Booth_

_"Senei Jashu!" (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands) _From Orochimaru's sleeves came dozens of snakes that sped toward Hiruzen. The aged Kage quickly kawarimied and appeared above the snake, throwing one shuriken. _"Kage Shuriken Bunshin no Jutsu!" (Shadow Shuriken Clone Technique) _One became a thousand that went straight for Orochimaru only for Oonoki to announce… _"Doton: Doryuuheki!" (Earth Release: Earth Style Wall) _and a large wall of stone appeared to stop all of the shuriken in their tracks. Hiruzen landed back on the floor a few feet from them and glared at the pair.

"Why are you here, Oonoki?"

The ancient Kage smiled. "I'm here for revenge, Hiruzen. Your Yondaime slaughtered some of my soldiers, so I'm merely returning the favor. With Suna, Iwa and Oto as one army… Konoha doesn't stand a chance. Especially since together, we have five jinchuuriki." Hiruzen's eyes widened at that statement, but then sweatdropped as Oonoki held onto his spine. "MY BACK!"

"Maybe you should have retired earlier?" Orochimaru suggested.

_Academy_

Iruka heard the village-wide alarm that signified an invasion, and immediately gathered his students. He made his way to the doors of the school only to see another one of the teachers here at the door, but not letting anyone through. Iruka was about to ask what was going on when he saw a pair of Suna kunoichi, a pair of Oto shinobi, and a single Iwa kunoichi standing a few feet from the school He soon recognized them as five of the Chuunin Exam hopefuls.

Sending chakra to his ears, Iruka could hear what they said. "…need to work fast." The blonde Suna kunoichi said.

The single Iwa kunoichi replied. "Well, obviously. We have to take down this place and then the Hospital before raiding the Kage Tower. Just do it." Iruka then bared witness as the Iwa kunoichi flew through a dozen handseals. _"Katon: Karyuu Endan!" (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bomb) _White hot flames flew from her mouth as the blonde kunoichi fully opened a fan and swung it. _"Dai Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" (Great Sickle Weasel Technique) _The flames then expanded as the other kunoichi had out four floating fans that swung down simultaneously. _"Tajuu Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" (Mass Sickle Weasel Technique) _The flames grew again to three-quarters of the Academy. _"Zankuuha!" (Decapitating Airwaves) _One of the Oto shinobi shouted as he shot blasts of wind from his palms and the last held out his silver gauntlet with many holes in it and it seemed to screech just then, causing the white flames to grow immense and soon it made contact with the school.

Outside of the Academy, the five shinobi could hear the screams of the occupants of the Academy and nodded. "Destroy the future generation of Konoha, check." Zaku said and the quintet of invaders left the area towards their next destination.

_Northern Wall_

The three humongous snakes were tearing through Konoha shinobi led by Ibiki, who saw this was a losing battle and was prepared to call for a tactical retreat when suddenly a toad appeared atop one of the snakes, crushing it. Atop the toad was none other than Jiraiya of the Sannin!

"Jiraiya-sama, you're here!" Ibiki exclaimed and he white-haired man grinned.

"Of course, I've got to keep this place safe from the hebi-teme, don't I?" The Konoha shinobi saw him and their morale boosted immensely, especially when the toad, who some recognized as Gamabunta, the Toad Boss, beheaded a second snake and went to battle with the final one as Jiraiya hopped off the summon. Just as he landed on the floor and was about to walk to Ibiki, he felt a familiar fist to his face and was sent crashing into the Northern Wall, creating a hole. He recovered, only to see the busty, blonde form of Tsunade.

"You ass!" She shouted at him. "How dare you protect these hypocritical fools! You perverted, hypocritical baka! How dare you leave Naruto all alone here when you knew of him, and you have the gall to continue to write your damn smut too?" The blonde was suddenly in front of the white-haired Sannin, who was assaulted by a superstrong fist to the gut, then an uppercut that sent him flying. "Jiraiya… I'm going to kill you!" She shouted and held a handseal. _"Suiton: Suiryuudan!" (Water Release: Water Dragon Missile) _She shot out a shockwave of water from her mouth that took the shape of a dragon and crashed into the Gama Sennin.

When he recovered once more, Tsunade saw he had a frog on either shoulder, markings on his face and a warty nose. _"Sennin Modo…" (Sage Mode)_ Tsunade whispered.

_ANBU Base_

All of the ANBU were currently busy within their own base trying to survive. The normally disciplined soldiers were panicky and full of terror. Bodies littered the floor everywhere. Blood painted the walls. Mayhem was the atmosphere of the usually cold building.

All because of a single woman in her mid-twenties with fiery red hair and an even more fearsome attitude. Uzumaki Mito was not happy.

The recently revived woman threw more kunai around the room, and a trio of ANBU were frozen, another four were paralyzed, another two melted in their clothes. All of her kunai had seal tags tied to them. A quartet of ANBU that had tantos drawn attempted to stab the woman through from four sides as she held a single handseal. _"Kekkai." (Barrier) _She muttered and a seal array glowed under her made of her own chakra and all four tanto stopped inches short. _"Baku." (Explode) _The seal array changed and the four were blown back and hit walls, sickening crunches from each one as their necks broke from the impact. A dozen of the masked nin thought to overpower her with numbers only for a giant seal array to engulf them. _"Rai." (Lightning) _They all began convulsing and bleeding from their eyes, noses, ears and mouths before each one of the dozen's heads literally exploded in scarlet rain.

One might wonder why the ANBU merely didn't leave the base. Too bad Mito had already thought of that and made an impenetrable barrier that kept everyone inside so she could kill them. And she was slaughtering the whole lot of them.

_Akimichi Compound_

Haku stood atop the roof of one of the Akimichi clan houses with Senbonzakura un his hand. He nodded to himself and held the blade upside down before dropping it into the ground, where it seemed to sink. _"Bankai. Senbonzakura Kageyoshi." (Final Release: Vibrant Display of a Thousand Cherry Blossoms) _The blade itself sunk into the ground and created a puddle before rippling on the ground out and in two seconds, one thousand large katana blades at least twenty feet high and three feet wide appeared in two rows that then scattered into the petal-sized blades. Haku merely stood stoicly as he willed the millions of small blades into the Compound, and into the nearby Nara and Yamanaka Estates, and began to literally shred the people apart. Three of the greatest clans were dead within minutes.

Once that finished, Gaara appeared next to Haku in a Suna Shunshin. "Is it done?" Haku nodded once. "Good… I have also taken out the Inuzuka, they stood no chance once I covered the whole area in my sand. My clones are taking their scrolls and weapons as we speak. Speaking of which…" the jinchuuriki made a handseal. _"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." (Mass Shadow Clone Technique) _One hundred copies of the boy appeared and hopped down among the three Compounds, intent on sealing everything of use. "Come on, Haku, we still have other places to be. I wonder how the Hyuuga Compound is holding up?"

"Against that girl, Subeta, and Karin? I don't think they're doing very well."

_Hyuuga Compound_

Said girls were standing back-to-back in the center of the Hyuuga Estate with Main Branch coming at them like crazy. Subeta was slicing and dicing them with swords and Karin had fuinjutsu and Suiton jutsu. _"Hakke Rokujuuyoshou!" _One yelled and came at them, intent on death. A seal array appeared under the girls. _"Kekkai!" (Barrier) _The Hyuuga ran into the barrier just as the array changed slightly. _"Kakoi!" (Storage) _The man disappeared into the array and it altered once more. _"Ruzai!" (Exile) _And in the space of one second, Karin now had another Hyuuga Main Branch inside one of her storage scrolls. She then took out a pair of kunai and threw them in the middle of the Hyuuga crowd, purposely missing.

On contact with the ground, the tags on each let loose one thousand poisoned senbon in every direction, killing, paralyzing, or maiming at least another twenty or so.

Subeta noticed everyone was away from her and so she grabbed one of her swords and charged it with chakra, this one had the kanji for 'Fire' and 'Speed' on it, the first allowed her its elemental properties, the second allowed her to teleport with it. The blade was soon garbed in deep, red light and she swung horizontally, creating a slash of pure flames that sped towards the opposition and sliced through, then cauterized, twenty Hyuuga's midsections. It was then that one Hyuuga was able to get into the defenses and strike a Juuken to each girl's heart.

Only for them to disintegrate into puddles of blood.

Then they noticed the fact that they were surrounded by Branch Hyuuga.

And that the Caged Bird Seals weren't working…

_Flashback, Two Weeks Ago_

Neji just looked at the redhead puppeteer like he was insane. "Uzumaki, you are entirely crazy. Fate has…" he didn't finish as Naruto, quicker than the eye, put a tag on Neji's forehead and made the ram seal. _"Kai!" _Neji grabbed the tag off his head and glared at the Suna nin. "What did you do to me!" Naruto smiled and made the handseal to activate the Caged Bird Seal and Neji gasped. "How do you know that!"

"An Uzumaki created the Seal, Neji. And shouldn't you be on the floor in pain?" Neji activated his Byakugan to see that Naruto, in fact, was sending chakra into his hands, but the Seal didn't activate. Naruto then pulled a mirror out of his trench coat and shoed Neji his forehead. Without a seal.

"All I want, Neji, is for the Hyuuga to aid Suna in the upcoming invasion. And to move to Suna with us when this is over. All the Main Branch will be killed off, you will be named Clan Head, and all of the Caged Bird Seals will be removed from them. Is that too much to ask for?" Neji thought only for a moment, one single moment.

"I'll convince them."

_Flashback Kai!_

And at the forefront, on three different sides, were Subeta, Karin, and Neji.

Suddenly the Hyuuga arrogance wasn't so much anymore.

_Aburame Compound_

Fuu grinned as she appeared in the middle of the Aburame Clan Compound in a shunshin. Immediately, she was surrounded by the Aburame that were still there. "You will leave or be killed." One said stoicly. Fuu only smiled.

"Do it then."

"You were warned." Immediately, all of their hives rushed right at her and they commanded the beetles to attack her. Fuu merely said one word. _"Kill." _The beetles, which all listened to her because of Chomei, immediately turned around and began to turn on their original masters. The screams were something Fuu found delight in as she created a hundred Kage Bunshin to raid their labs, library and weapon stores. She would find use in all of them.

_Arena Floor_

Kakashi held a seal. _"Katon: Karyuu Endan!" (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bomb) _and sent out a large burst of white-hot flames at the puppets and their master. The Nidaime held a seal. _"Suiton: Suiryuudan!" (Water Release: Water Dragon Missile) _Tobirama then created a wave of water that filled the entire arena floor with water and formed it into a dragon, easily putting out the small candlelight Kakashi had made and filling the arena, forcing Kakashi to waterwalk on the element of Tobirama's fame.

As if that wasn't enough, Tobirama performed fast handseals. _"Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei!" (Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation) _and a single coffin rose up from the water itself and opened up to reveal… Inuzuka Rin.

Kakashi stared wide-eyed at the woman and stood shock-still…

_Kage Battle_

_"Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei!" _Orochimaru shouted as a coffin emerged from the ground and opened to reveal one opponent for the Sandaime Hokage. It was none other than the Fourth Kazekage.

_Northern Wall_

Tsunade looked at the now Sage Moded Jiraiya and flew through her own handseals. _"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" (Summoning Technique) _Atop Tsunade's shoulders were now two slugs as well. One was a deep, royal purple with a small crown atop her head, and the other was a sky blue. Both were the size of Katsuyu after she split into many slugs. "Yasuragi-sama," Tsunade said to the blue one, "Soumei-sama, I need your help." Tsunade spoke and the two aged slugs spotted the Gama Sennin in Sage Mode already.

"We will aid you, Tsunade…" Yasuragi spoke.

"…for family loyalty is something we slugs know of and practice." Soumei finished for her twin.

Tsunade soon felt the power of Nature Energy running through her as they melded into her form and sent her into Sennin Modo. Tsunade's face was soon covered in silvery-blue markings and her single crystal was surrounded by four others. The markings started from her crystal and went in each diagonal direction through each of the crystals and each curved up on her forehead. In the middle of both sides of her face's markings, a single line went down her face and past her now light green eyes. (If you can't imagine it, go to sephirothic7 .deviantart art/Tsunade-Sage-Mode-Revealed-371471320)

_"Sennin Modo." _Tsunade muttered and enjoyed Jiraiya's shocked look.

_Konoha General Hospital_

Kurotsuchi found herself alone at the hospital and sighed. All of her squad had her to her own design.

First Temari left when she saw her puppeteer brother in trouble against half a dozen Chuunin.

Then Kin decided to head to the Kage Tower to raid it early, something about 'genjutsu is more effective if used on one person'.

Zaku left upon seeing a group of genin he wanted to 'play with'.

Dosu went after him to make sure he stayed out of trouble.

And so Kurotsuchi was all alone. But whatever, she was used to that. She would just have to take it out on this building and its occupants. She went through a dozens of handseals and finally stopped on the tiger seal, breathing in deep. _"Katon: Gouyomidan!" (Fire Release: Grand Hell Missile) _Kurotsuchi's most powerful technique then was let loose in the form of a ten-foot Oni with a sword, both made of flames, and he slashed the hospital, severing it in the middle with a horizontal cut. Both ends of the cut burst into purple flames and began to consume the building, the top half then collapsed on the bottom half, killing anyone in that area. The top half was then consumed in purple flames as the Oni breathed a stream of said fire, destroying all life within.

Kurotsuchi sighed and turned around, not even looking at the burning building anymore. "That only made me feel slightly better." Looking down from her rooftop, she saw a Suna kunoichi surrounded by a quartet of Konoha Chuunin… with _that _look in their eyes. That lustful look she hated.

_"Youton: Youkai no Jutsu!" (Lava Release: Melting Apparation Technique) _She burned them to a crisp and the kunoichi smiled in thanks before chakra strings came from her fingers and she took control of two of the Chuunin and took off. "Now I feel loads better." Kuotsuchi said content and headed off to find more Konoha shinobi, who in her mind were all rapists now because of that little event, to punish.

_Konoha Public Library_

Kushina looked on at her first target in disgust. Naruto had told her that when he first started the Academy, he had been so excited and tried to go the library to learn more about everything about shinobi. And they kicked him out. Well… the librarian actually had her husband, a large man who was a blacksmith, throw him out the door. The redheaded woman walked into the place and unconsciously chains sprouted from her body and wrapped up every single occupant of said establishment.

Once Kushina realized what she did, she grinned in a way that would scare Orochimaru and pulled her hostages to her and looked at them. "So… you think you can just hate my sochi and I'll forgive you?" Kushina asked the librarian who recognized the woman– who else can make chains sprout from their body?– and looked confused.

"Who is your son, Uzuma…" the librarian then realized what she was about to say and her eyes showed pure, unadulterated terror. Right before Kushina squeezed her chains and bisected the woman at the waist. Along with every other citizen of Konoha, shinobi and civilian, that was there. Then she heard the alarm from the Hokage Tower and smirked. They were just a minute too late.

The Uzumaki woman looked around the place and smirked. "If sochi wants all of these, he will get them." She made a cross handseal. _"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" _Two hundred clones appeared and set to work on sealing every book and scroll from the shelves and every ryo and weapon from the civilians and shinobi that she could.

_Kage Tower _

Kin showed up in the Hokage Office, deep within her invisibility Genjutsu, and sensed the ANBU in the room. One in the corner, and one on the roof. Neither were sensors, since she wasn't taken prisoner yet. Suddenly, the door opened and in walked in a silver-haired man in a Chuunin vest that Naruto had described as Mizuki from the Academy. The ANBU in the corner was auomatically on him, pressing him to the floor. "Why are you in here, Mizuki?" The Cat-masked ANBU demanded from him. The other ANBU was in the shadows behind Neko, ready to attack. _'They make this only too easy.' _ Kin thought and made four handseals.

_"Kingen: Toppishi!" (Forbidden Illusion: Erratic Death) _All three stiffened up before falling to the floor and convulsing, foam from their mouths, and eyes in the back of their heads. "And there is their death. Seizure." Kin said with a sadistic smirk before straining her senses for any chakra signatures and found one under the desk.

First she headed to the desk and recognized a storage seal which she activated and unsealed what was inside. "So, what's this…? Forbidden Scroll of Seals eh? Oh, and a Summoning Contract for… how the hell did the Leaf get ahold of the Raccoon Contract? And I thought the Fox Contract was Madara's… Naru-koi will love to see this…" Kin grinned and sealed them in her storage tattoo before looking at the last item that was there and opening the book. Her eyes widened at what it showed. "This is… the journal of the Hokage…" Kin whispered and sealed it up. "Naru-koi has to see this!"

_Sarutobi Compound_

With Hiruzen in a death battle, Asuma fighting in the Arena, and Konohamaru at the Academy… no one was at the Sarutobi Compound to stop Karin from 'popping by' and making a hundred Kage Bunshin to take all of their scrolls, weapons, and ryo.

_ANBU Base_

Mito looked at the final three ANBU. A tiger, bird and spider masked nin, each with their hands in separate seals.

_"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique)_

_ "Katon: Karyuu Endan!"_

_ "Fuuton: Reppuusho!" (Wind Release: Gale Palm)_

Mito created a seal array under her and muttered _"Eizou." (Reflection) _A mirror made of chakra rose in front of the sealmistress and the large fire went into it…

And came back out, consuming the trio of survivors. Mito made a cross handseal. _"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! _Collect everything from here. Scrolls, weapons, ryo, and Summoning Contracts. Get everything and seal it into scrolls for later."

"Hai!"

_Secret ROOT Base_

"Ah, I knew Danzou was low… but using one of Orochimaru's bases?" Kushina said to herself as she flicked blood off of her katana and looked at her handiwork. There were dozens of ROOT agents lying dead on the floor. The redhead opened up the final door in the Compound and found her target. Shimura Danzou. He had three agents behind him. From looks, one was an Aburame, one was a Yamanaka, and the last was a dark-haired, pale-skinned teenage boy. He could almost be an Uchiha if he had a scowl on his face.

"Hello, Danzou!" Kushina greeted cheerily. Despite himself, the old man showed emotion. Shock. Kushina _was _dead! He had checked her corpse, watched her be buried… she couldn't be alive!

"H-how?"

"Oh, you know. I work out every day, eat healthy, and keep up my hygiene. Oh… and I'm a former jinchuuriki, meaning my sochi could revive me with this seal he came up with that only brings former jinchuuriki back to life." Kushina smiled and the Aburame and Yamanaka couldn't even react as two chains flew through their chest and bisected them vertically. The chains disappeared and Kushina grinned at the duo of shinobi left.

"Sai, keep her busy." Danzou ordered the now named Sai as he jumped back and began fiddling with the sleeve on his 'lost' arm.

"Hai, Danzou-sama." The boy spoke blandly and took out a scroll and opened it, bringing out an ink sword to balance his tanto he carried and rushed at the Uzumaki. Kushina ducked under his swing and kawarimied with the Yamanaka corpse as he stabbed. He was far too slow for an S-rank shinobi like her. Almost lazily, the redheaded woman sent a chain to grab the boy's ankle and pull him to her and she took off his head with her katana. She turned to look at Danzou and saw he now had an arm and a new eye… well eyes. Ten Sharingan on his arm, which had the face of Hashirama on it, and also a Sharingan where his bandages once were.

"So that's what you were hiding." Kushina said with a bored tone and grabbed a kunai from her pouch, throwing it at Danzou, where it pierced his chest, killing him. Then he recovered completely. Kushina noticed one of his Sharingan on his arm closed. "The _Izanagi?_" Kushina said curiously. "Mikoto-chan told me about that. So, I only need to kill you eleven times, eh? Shouldn't be too difficult."

_Konoha Streets_

Zaku aimed his palms directly into a crowd of Konoha shinobi. _"Zankuha!" _and blasted them to pieces.

Dosu shook his head at his sadistic best friend. "Zaku, come on, we don't want any ANBU to show up." Suddenly, a wolf-masked ANBU showed up in front of them.

"No, that would be bad." The ANBU agreed and took out his tanto, shunshining by Dosu and stabbing him through the chest. Zaku could only look in horror as his only friend in the world was killed, and saw red.

_"Zankuukyokuha!" (Extreme Decapitating Airwaves) _He shouted and the ANBU was literally exploded into little bits of flesh, blood and bone as Zaku, now soaked in the crimson liquid, rushed to Dosu's side. "Dosu!"

The mummified genin looked out his one eye at his friend. "H-hey… Zaku… d-don't worry." Zaku looked like he was holding back tears. "I had a f-feeling I m-might die here. D-don't worry at all. D-don't mourn me for too long."

"What are you talking about man? You're gonna be fine!" Zaku said confidently, even if they both knew it was a lie.

"Hey… do me a favor, okay?" Zaku nodded as Dosu raised his arm to his fellow Oto nin. The one with Dosu's prized Melody Arm. "Take this… and use it wisely. P-protect yourself… and I'll always be with you when you have it." Zaku looked wide-eyed at his best friend.

"B-but…"

"N-no buts, Zaku. T-take it." Zaku nodded shakily and took the gauntlet, strapping it to his right arm in a way that wouldn't hinder his armtubes. "Y-you helped me t-train with it, so you know h-how to use it. And… one more thing. That thing Naruto asked us… his proposal? Accept it. And Subeta too. B-both of you need to stay safe…" Dosu coughed violently and Zaku could see the bandages over his mouth stain red. "Ev-everything I found out about… about Orochi's treachery of us is in the storage seal on the Melody Arm… and also things about other Oto nin…" Zaku nodded and saw Dosu's breathing slow.

"An-anything Dosu… onii-san."

Dosu chuckled weakly at that. "Go ahead… otouto. Come here, one second though…" Zaku leaned forward by Dosu and saw his hand that the Melody Arm was once on glow as the air vibrated around it. Two fingers touched Dosu's forehead. _"Oto-Ryuu: Kioku Kyoumei." (Sound Style: Memory Resonance) _The last of Dosu's chakra left his body and into Zaku, as the mummy genin passed all of his memories to his best friend, every technique became Zaku's own and all of the information entered Zaku's mind.

Dosu's final words were "Save Oto… otouto…"

_Northern Wall_

Jiraiya was so shocked by Tsunade's transformation, that he almost got hit by one of Tsunade's punches to the gut, and he couldn't survive one of those enhanced with Senjutsu.

"What the hell, Tsunade! Can't we do this later? Like… when there's no invasion?" The blonde merely smirked and made a handseal. _"Suiton: Mizurappa!" (Water Release: Wild Water Wave) _and Jiraiya was hit and blown into the wall. "And since when do you use ninjutsu!"

"We are doing this now! You deserve to be beat for all you made Naruto suffer through, you ero-baka!" Tsunade then breathed in, as did her two slugs, _"Kokyuu no San!" (Acid Breath) _They spoke as one and released a cloud of acidic poison at the Gama Sennin. He quickly kawarimied away and the wall, log, and floor where he once was all melted into a goopy substance that stunk.

Jiraiya attempted to hit the Slug Sannin from behind, only for her to duck it and kick him in the gut, then shunshin just past him and launch a spinning kick into his midsection that sent him into the opposite direction. As Jiraiya landed, he felt two sets of arms hold him, clones of Tsunade, and felt the fist to his stomach he dodged earlier and coughed out blood. "Wh-what is wrong with you…" Jiraiya asked.

"Not what's wrong with me. What's wrong with this place and with you!" Tsunade shouted and punched Jiraiya in the face with such force he was launched _through _her clone and made a hole in the weapon shop behind him. "And now you're going to pay, Jiraiya!" Tsunade jumped up to dodge the sudden wave of white needles that Jiraiya shot from his hair and landed on a roof while going through handseals. _"Suiton: Suidanha!" (Water Release: Water Severing Wave) _Tsunade spewed a stream of highly pressured water that cut through buldings and moved her head to cut through the weapon building, hearing a satisfying shout from Jiraiya and then stopped. She saw the man jump up and reach a roof across from hers with a large gash across his chest.

"You… how dare you…" Jiraiya said. "You're a traitor then?" Tsunade smiled sweetly.

"I'm not a traitor. I'm loyal to Konoha, village with the Will of Fire. The only person I've seen thus far in Konoha with that is my godson, Naruto. Oh, and Jiraiya?" He glared at her before suddenly falling to his knees and clutching his chest. "That water was filled with the poison of Slug Sage Mode. Ja ne! or not…" Tsunade left and was soon out of Sage Mode, heading off to find something else to do, somewhere else to be.

_Arena Floor_

Kakashi stared at the reanimated corpse of his teammate wide-eyed. "R-rin…?" This allowed Naruto to move his other puppets in place as the Inuzuka woman looked around in confusion at the scene before her. Tobirama threw a kunai with a seal on it that made her under Naruto's control.

"Kakashi?" Rin asked curiously. Neither noticed the kunai that was in her neck with the seal attached. As one they stepped forward and without thinking Kakashi rushed forward, only for Naruto to grin and hold handseal and take control of the medic. He then forced Rin to shove a kunai into Kakashi's chest. The girl looked at him in shock. "K-Kakashi…"

"R-rin…" Kakashi said as he fell over, dead. Then Naruto released her from his hold, allowing her to die once more, revealing the sacrifice used to bring her back as Inuzuka Kiba. Naruto then created chakra strings to pull his corpse back and into his Staff of Sealing for making a puppet later.

Naruto calmly walked over to Kakashi and looked at him in disgust. "I won't even give you the honor of becoming my puppet, Kakashi-teme." Naruto said and used his medical knowledge to take out Kakashi's Sharingan eye and seal it in his staff before cutting off the Copy Ninja's head and sealing that as well. Then Naruto incinerated the body of Kakashi and shunshined away. "Time to go Uchiha hunting." He said gleefully.

_Kage Battle_

Hiruzen barely dodged a wave of gold dust senbon and ducked under the flying form of Oonoki as he swung Enma at the Tsuchikage, who easily dodged it. "Don't count me out yet, Orochimaru." Hiruzen announced and shunshined behind the Kazekage, smashing his bostaff against his head. The Kazekage lost focus and dropped his gold sand as Hiruzen teleported again next to Orochimaru and sent a blow at his head. Oonoki intercepted , however, by launching off a jutsu Hiruzen didn't know he could. _"Youton: Youryuudan!" (Lava Release: Lava Dragon Missile) _Hiruzen had to kawarimi quickly to dodge the sudden dragon-shaped lava missile that Oonoki launched at him from mid-air.

"You have the Youton?" Hiruzen asked, despite his situation.

"I am able to mix Katon, Fuuton, and Doton effectively with my kekkai tota. Did you think I would not learn to mix two of the elements? If that is the case, you are sorely mistaken, Hiruzen." Oonoki then looked at the Snake Sannin. "I'm killing him now, Orochimaru-dono."

"No, I will kill him." Orochimaru regurgitated his sword and launched himself at Hiruzen, who blocked with Enma. The Hebi Sennin ducked under the next blow by the bostaff and slashed across Hiruzen's chest, though it only was shallow because he jumped back. Despite that, the poison on the sword was enough to make Hiruzen cough up blood a few seconds later. Orochimaru let loose a _"Senei Jashu!" _at the Sandaime and wrapped around him, before biting into his arms and neck. With a mental command, the snakes pulled Hiruzen towards him, not noticing the handseals Hiruzen had done.

Orochimaru grinned and stabbed Hiruzen in the chest, grinning the whole time, until Hiruzen finished his seals and shouted _"Shiki Fujin!" (Dead Demon Consuming Seal) _Orochimaru saw the apparition of the Shinigami behind his former teacher and felt a tug on his entire being before Hiruzen had hold of Orochimaru's soul.

The Snake scowled and pulled back while embedding the Kusanagi entirely in Hiruzen's heart. Hiruzen looked as if he was going to drop over in an instant and sighed. "IF I can't you to the grave with me… I'll just take away your precious Jutsu!" The Shinigami then cut Orochimaru's soul and his arms blackened as if decayed before Hiruzen died with a content smile on his face.

"Curse you, Sarutobi-sensei!" Oonoki gave a grandfatherly chuckle.

"Should have let me kill him."

"Oh, shut up. The Invasion is ending anyways, then I'll have Kabuto heal this… kukuku…"

_ROOT Base_

Kushina rushed the warhawk and bisected the slower man at the waist, making his second eye close and then turned on her heel, beheading him to cause a third eye to close. Pivoting on her left foot, she sent a chakra-enhanced kick to Danzou's gut that sent him back a few feet.

"Is that the best you've got, Uzumaki?" The Elder asked mockingly and held a single handseal. _"Fuuton: Kaze no Yaiba!" (Wind Release: Wind Blade) _He sent an invisible blade of wind straight for Kushina. The Uzumaki grinned and the translucent katana merely fazed against the one-tail cloak of red chakra that materialized around her.

"Going to need to be better than that, Danzou!" Kushina disappeared in a burst of speed and went two-tails as she slashed Danzou's head into pieces with a claw of youkai, closing a fourth eye as Kushina flipped back.

_"Fuuton: Shinkuujin!" (Wind Release: Vacuum Blade) _Danzou took out a kunai and controlled his wind chakra to form a scimitar-like blade of wind and rushed at the former-jinchuuriki, who parried the slash. She then ducked under his horizontal slash and controlled her youkai cloak and had it cover only her katana.

"If it's a kenjutsu fight you want…" Kushina said with a smile as she held her youkai-coated blade, "I'll give you one!" In a flurry of slashes too fast to catch, Danzou was covered in cuts and lost another eye, leaving him with half.

He was shocked she had done this much, and could barely keep up with the younger woman's movements as she danced around him in circles and he was caught in a whirlpool of red. Then she called out her sealless jutsu _"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" _Two more copies of Kushina appeared in clouds of smoke and attacked the warhawk from three sides, including the original, which lost him three more eyes before he could dispel them. The original Kushina lashed out with her tail and stabbed him with another of them, closing them another eye, leaving him with one.

Danzou grew angry and flew through a massive amount of handseals in a moment. _"Mokuton: Mokuryuudan!" (Wood Release: Wood Dragon Missile) _A large dragon of wood appeared from the ground and launched at Kushina, who went her full-on six-tails Version 2 and held it back with her tails, barely, as she kawarimied. Then she sent chains of youkai out of her chest to grab Danzou, melting his skin from bone and killing off his last eye. When he became living once more, Kushina grinned and made a seal array of her chakra that encompassed the whole room. _"Fuin!" (Seal) _Everyone in the room but her disappeared in the pocket dimension she had created from storage seals.

"And now to find sochi… well…" Kushina grinned and made several hundred Kage Bunshin. "Send every corpse here, all the scrolls, all weapons, all money, and anything of use here straight to our pocket dimension!" She commanded and left the base.

_Kurama Compound_

Yakumo sat in her rightful spot of Clan Head within her Compound as the alarm continued to blare through the village of Konoha. She ignored it as best she could as the entire clan of fifty was gathered within the Council Chambers until they were told to come out. She had ensured the survival of the Genjutsu-using clan. And her loyalty was only to one person.

That redhead puppeteer had brought the pair of them into a joint mindscape between them and helped her. His tenant, the Kyuubi, had thoroughly thrashed her alternate personality, Ido. After Ido was weak, Naruto had helped her to absorb the personality, rather than kill it or suppress it, and she gained the control Ido had over Genjutsu in addition to her own, and became a mixture of the two. She also gained the memories of killing her own parents.

She mourned in the three weeks before the Chuunin Exams and finally came to terms with it all and accepted Naruto's proposal. He promised her clan a place in Suna, as a major clan and a part of the Council there. She readily accepted, already having known of the impending invasion from said puppeteer.

At that moment, a pale-skinned, black haired man appeared with a shunshin in her Chambers. "I am Akasuna no Sasori, and Naruto has sent me to tell you the time has come. Although how the student can command the teacher now is beyond me…"

"When do illusions prosper?" Yakumo asked, signifying the password.

"Where the heat is deep in the Sand, where mirages abound, and where all the Leaves have dried up." Yakumo nodded.

"Come on, mass shunshin outside the gates!" Yakumo commanded her clan. "Jounin and Chuunin each take hold of two of the younger clan members!" In seconds, only Sasori and Yakumo remained and she looked at him.

"I thought Sasori was a redhead?"

"I am in a puppet. Speaking of which…" Sasori took out a scroll and unsealed the body of none other than Nara Shikamaru and grinned at Yakumo's expression. "I left Naruto here to train alone, since I can't teach him anything anymore, and spent that month spying on everyone here in Konoha. This one could predict my movements pretty well, but I had more chakra than he, so I ultimately won. He is strong though, so…" Sasori flew through a few handseals and pressed his hands on Shikamaru's chest. _"Kugutsu Kinjutsu: Fukyuu Kifuin!" (Puppet Arts Forbidden Technique: Immortal Mind Sealing) _Sasori dropped dead and Shikamaru's eyes opened. The only difference was his irises were now crimson. The Jounin sat up and grinned in an un-Shikamaru way. "Mind Sealing successful." The new body of Sasori grabbed his stuff and then sealed his old body in the scroll.

"That's one useful technique." Yakumo commented.

"Definitely. Now… Let's go to the Gate and meet my student."

_Uchiha Compound_

Naruto grinned as he landed in the Uchiha Estate… right next to Sasuke. The boy jumped away and looked at Naruto arrogantly. "I knew you'd come to find me. Come on, I can kill you, and then I'll take your power to kill Itachi." Naruto shook his head and twirled his Sealing Staff idly.

"What puppet should I use to beat you? You're not worth killing with a Kage… actually…" Naruto grinned and held his hands out. Sasuke's Sharingan saw the strings emerge and was shocked. First, strings emerged from his fingers, then each one branched into ten strings from the first and each string latched onto Sasuke's body.

"Wh-what? I can't move!" Sasuke shouted at Naruto.

"Of course you can't. Unless I let you…" Naruto grinned and had Sasuke take out a kunai from his pouch and raise it before it was held in front of his right eye. "Say bye to your Sharin–"

"Stop!" Naruto turned to see Orochimaru with Kabuto in tow, as well as the Sound Four behind him.

"Oh, hey hebi!" Naruto said with an easy grin. "What's up?" The Hebi Sannin growled.

"Let him go. He must not be harmed, or our deal is off." Naruto sighed.

"Fine. Is the deal the same then?"

Kabuto nodded, speaking so his master didn't have to. "Any Oto nin is allowed to defect to Suna without consequences to your side, the schematics of the Juinjutsu are yours, and everything in Konoha that Iwa doesn't get to first belongs to Suna." Naruto grinned and threw Sasuke at Kabuto, who caught him.

"Nice doing business with you." Naruto made several hundred Kage Bunshin that headed out to search the Uchiha Compound for everything of interest. "I just want to add one thing to that. If I try to get the next Kazekage to be in an alliance with Iwa, will Oto join?" Orochimaru looked thoughtful for a moment.

"We will." Orochimaru spoke before they all left, though Naruto noticed the redheaded Sound Four stayed a moment longer than the rest.

It only took ten minutes and then all of the Uchiha possessions were sealed in a scroll that one Kage Bunshin brought, and the original sealed it into his Staff of Sealing before shunshining to the Gate.

_North Gate_

Tsunade looked from her rooftop at the slaughterfest that was the result of all of those Konoha shinobi trying to fight off Iwa, Suna, and Oto nin. Suddenly, Mito and Kushina were on either side of her. "The ANBU here are weak…" Mito said.

"And the ROOT weren't much better." Kushina agreed.

Tsunade shrugged. "Jiraiya's dead." Tsunade informed her baa-chan and ex-student.

"Really? Was it easy?" The voice of Kin said from behind the blonde. Behind Tsunade were Kin, Temari, Haku and Gaara.

"Very much so." Tsunade said in a bored tone.

"Pervert deserved whatever he got." Karin said as her, Subeta, and Zaku appeared.

"Zaku, Subeta?" Haku asked curiously. "Why are you here? And what happened to Dosu?"

Zaku stood stock-still as soon as Dosu was mentioned. Haku sighed. "It happens to everyone, Zaku-san. We all lose people. Did you accept Naruto-sama's offer then?" Subeta nodded.

In a large-scale swirl of leaves, the Kurama and Branch Hyuuga Clan appeared on the site of the massacre as the teenage heads of the Clans appeared on Tsunade's rooftop along with… "Shikamaru!" Neji exclaimed.

"I am Sasori. This is my new body. I needed for that body to be dead, so I chose this one. A Nara is rather excellent, and it makes all of my techniques easy, being able to use Shadow Techniques together with kugutsu and chakra strings." Mito nodded at that logic.

"You are smart, Akasuna no Sasori. No wonder Naruto is such a well-skilled ninja." Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

"Aw, I'm blushing baa-chan!" Naruto's voice rang out from behind everyone, and they looked at the redhead kugutsu master. "Anyways… we're done here. I hope. Are the clan's all raided?"

"Hai!" Haku, Karin, Fuu, Subeta, and Gaara spoke as one.

"Kage Tower?" Kin nodded. "Library and ROOT base?" Kushina smiled. "ANBU base?" Mito nodded once. "Hospital and Academy destroyed?" Temari, Kin, and Zaku nodded. Then Naruto noticed something. "Dosu?" Zaku looked down. "I see. I wondered why you were wearing his gauntlet…" the redhead sighed. "Alright. We head for Suna now. Let's go!" With that, all of the Suna nin, plus two clans, two Oto nin, three extra Uzumaki, an extra jinchuuriki, and a Nara headed out of Konoha and back to their home.

_Konoha Safehouse_

Deep within the Hokage Monument were the survivors of the Konoha Invasion.

It consisted of the entire Civilian Council– minus Danzou– the Heads of the Shinobi Clans– minus Chouza and Inoichi– twenty ANBU– including Yamato– one hundred Jounin– among which was Kurenai, Gai and Asuma– one hundred fifty Chuunin –including Koutetsu and Izumo– and three hundred Genin– which included the entire Konoha twelve besides Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Sai.

The Council had just unanimously named Nara Shikaku the Godaime Hokage, and he accepted. His first order of business was to declare Konoha to be repaired and the entire village in martial law. Every single child of age was to be taught the ways of shinobi, and all of the genin were to be given Chuunin tests, all the Chuunin were to be given Jounin tests, and all the Jounin were to be given ANBU tests in three months' time. All of his laziness had disappeared after his son and two best friends had died in the Invasion.

Secretly, he also had one singular drive, though most had guessed it. _'I will brings Konoha back to power… and then… I will avenge you Inoichi, Chouza, and most of all Shikamaru! Suna, Oto and Iwa shall pay! And blood is the only price I will accept.'_

_Original Jutsu_

"_Tajuu Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" (Mass Sickle Weasel Technique) A variation on the Sickle Weasel Technique that involves using multiple instances of the jutsu at once with two or more fans. B-rank._

"_Katon: Gouyomidan!" (Fire Release: Grand Hell Missile) The user creates a ten-foot Oni of fire with a fiery broadsword that slashes at a target and breathes purple flames. High A-rank._

"_Kingen: Toppishi!" (Forbidden Illusion: Erratic Death) The target experiences the effects of a death-level seizure, killing them. A-rank._

"_Oto-Ryuu: Kioku Kyoumei." (Sound Style: Memory Resonance) The user transfers their memories to a target. Sacrifices the user's life. C-rank._

"_Kokyuu no San!" (Acid Breath) While in Slug Sage Mode, the user creates a poisonous mist and breathes it out. The mist is so acidic it can melt through stone, bone, and steel. S-rank._

"_Youton: Youryuudan!" (Lava Release: Lava Dragon Missile) The user creates a dragon of lava and sends it at high speeds to a target. B-rank._

"_Mokuton: Mokuryuudan!" (Wood Release: Wood Dragon Missile) The user creates a dragon of wood and sends it at high speeds to a target. Can withstand youkai from a chakra cloak. A-rank._

**And that's Chapter End!**

**So what'd you think of the Konoha Invasion? Did I do good? I tried to do it different than the chapter in Nidaime Snake Sannin, and I just want to know if it's good enough.**

**How were the fights?**

**What did you think of Dosu dying?**

**Reactions on the people heading to Suna with Naruto?**

**I know that the Kage puppets didn't get much fight time, but they will later. And there is a purpose to keeping the Uchiha alive. Just wait.**

**Also, one more question. What will the reaction of Suna be once they find out that Kazekage's dead and Naruto brought so many new shinobi to Suna? Just wait to find out!**

**R&R! PM me with questions! Flames will be dutifully ignored!**

**Until next time, Orpheus out!**


	14. Chapter XIV

_**Naruto of the Red Sands**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, end of story. Just not this one… yet.**_

_**Hello all, to the next chapter in this amazing story! Ready for the aftermath of Konoha's Destruction? I know I am. And on the matter of last chapter… sorry about the typo. I said that Sai died, when in fact, I actually meant Kiba. My bad people.**_

_**Also, I would like to do two of my fellow authors justice and ask that you take a looksee over at their stories. Jmanfilms12 just began a NarutoxBleach Crossover that is a Dark!Godlike!NarutoxHarem filled with bashing and also contains characters of other series in it. FireFoxImr has a couple of stories that are really good, but more importantly a story inspired by my own Nidaime Snake Sannin called 'Naruto the Yellow Death, Kushina the Red Death: The Legend of Two Deaths'.**_

_**Definitely read them!**_

_**Now that my little recommendations are finished…**_

_**Review Time!**_

_**Peter Kim: Naruto is not using the Kazekage puppet, Sasori has it, and no one knows about that besides Naruto's team. Also, Naruto is using the three Hokage puppets.**_

_**Brainll: Ups… my bad. I said Inuzuka Rin? I thought I corrected that…**_

_**Chapter XIV**_

Within Suna, or more like on the edge, two guards were placed. Two Chuunin guards. The pair of best friends bore much resemblance to a certain pair of Chuunin guards in Konoha. They were Namakura and Surudoi. Namakura had sandy brown hair that fell to his shoulders, bright green eyes, deeply tanned skin, a scar the left side of his face that barely missed his eye and wore a red shirt, black ANBU pants, a Chuunin vest and a wakizashi at his waist. He also was leaning against the wall with an expression that would rival Shikamaru's. Surdoi stood at 5'9", just two inches above his partner, with dirty blonde hair, pale blue eyes, one missing eye, his right to be exact, that was covered by his headband, he wore the same outfit as his partner, and instead of a sword, he had pair of scrolls on his back that he kept his puppets in.

"This job is so boring…" Surudoi stated. "Why couldn't we go on the Invasion too?"

Namakura sighed. "Because, Surudoi, people have to guard the village or we will be invaded too. Just be glad we don't have to fight anytime soon. I know I am."

"You're so damn…" Surudoi never finished because he perked up as a dust cloud made itself visible in the horizon. "What the hell is that!" Namakura sighed and glanced at it.

"A dust cloud…" Surudoi smacked his friend upside the head.

"Yes, but what's _making _the cloud?" Namakura sighed. "How can you be so bored! We could be invaded right now! You were the Rookie of the Year in our class! You know what that…" Surudoi was suddenly shut up by Namakura's blade pointed at his throat, before it was put back.

"Kami, you're annoying sometimes. Yes, I know what an Invasion means. But I sensed that group from miles away. What respectable sensor couldn't? But it's nothing too bad. The Invasion is over, one way or another. I can sense all of our ninja… plus a few others." Surudoi just grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah… I, uh, I knew that."

"Tch, sure you did." Was Namakura's response when suddenly they heard a whizzing and saw a single kunai land in front of them before…

Naruto, Kin, Haku, Temari, Kankurou, Gaara, Baki, and seven other figures with them appeared in a… yellow flash. Namakura jumped back. "The… the…"

The redheaded puppeteer grinned. "Yes, the Hiraishin no Jutsu. Very useful technique to know… right kaa-san?" Naruto asked one of the redheads with him, as there were three there with him. There was also a green-haired girl, a busty blonde woman, and two boys, one with black hair and a lazy expression and the other with pale eyes.

The two guards looked at him, gaping like fish, and then they saw the upcoming mob of people… the forces of Suna looked bigger… and that was very true. "Just… what the hell happened in the Invasion?" Surudoi asked and Naruto waved the question off.

"Have I got a story for the Council."

"Um… you?" Namakura asked. "What about…?"

"Namakura, we don't have time for this, I was appointed one for this job. Sensei and Kazekage-sama are among the dead. I need to give my report to the Shinobi Council… now." The Guards' eyes widened and they wordlessly stepped aside as the group made their way inside Suna. Naruto could easily feel the signatures of all of the ANBU and shinobi in the area. The Council was apparently already gathered. _'Good, they got Baa-chan's fox messenger then. Wonder if I should sign that Contract?' _ **"Oh! You definitely should!" **Naruto heard a cheery voice inside himself. _'Ah, so you're alive after all. I thought you died.' _ Naruto could practically feel his tenant's sheepish grin. **"I was… asleep. That technique of your took a bit out of me, you know." **Naruto sighed and shook his head before heading off for the Kazekage Tower and stopping just outside it, turning to look at his companions. He was accompanied by Karin, Kushina, Mito, Neji, 'Shikamaru', Yakumo, Anko, Tsunade, Temari, Kin, Fuu, Kankurou, Gaara, Haku, Zaku and Subeta. Quite a lot of people, actually.

"I wonder if we would be allowed to have all of us in the Councilroom." Temari shook her head. "Why not?"

"Not big enough. I'm oldest of my siblings, so I should go in as Head of the Subaku Clan, Neji and Yakumo can be foreign emissaries, Tsunade, Kushina, and Mito are important figures hoping to become part of the village, and you are the representative of the entire Suna army as the one to report our success, and losses. Everyone will need to stay here." Mito looked impressed.

"Smart, girl. Definitely Clan Head material." Temari blushed slightly and smiled.

"Arigatou, Mito-sama." Temari bowed her head slightly and the designated group walked inside the Chamber, met with silence and astonished looks.

The Shinobi Council, as there were few Suna Clans, was made of the Subaku, Kaon, and Nigemizu Clans, the ANBU Captain, the Puppet Corps Leader, the Jounin Commander, the Elder Councilor, the Headmaster of the Suna Academy, and finally the Kazekage himself. Temari took the Subaku Clan seat, the Kaon was held by Pakura, and the Nigemizu was held by a man known as Kasuka, who had snow white hair that fell past his shoulders in the back and covered his left eye in the front, tan skin, a half-smile on his face, eyes almost pale as a Hyuuga, and wore a Jounin uniform. The ANBU Captain was also Pakura, so was instead held by her Second-in-Command, a man who wore the ANBU uniform and had his Lizard mask over his face so you could only see his spiky black hair and brown eyes. The Puppet Corps Leader was Chiyo's daughter and Sasori's aunt, a woman named Ichimi who looked like an older, female version of Sasori, as his she was the puppeteer's mother's twin. The Jounin Commander was Baki. The Elder Councilor was none other than Chiyo. And the last seat was held by the Academy Headmaster, he had spiked, silvery-blonde hair, yellow eyes, tan skin, a scar across the left side of his face that went from above his mouth to behind his ear, and wore a red shirt and pants with a Chuunin vest over his shirt as well as a large fan on his back. The Kazekage seat was, of course, empty.

Chiyo was the first to speak. "Hello, Naruto-kun… and company." The redheaded puppeteer sent a grin her way. "Where is the Kazekage, and why are you in the Subaku Clan seat, Teamri-san?" The blonde looked down at her boyfriend, and so the elderly woman turned back to him. "Just what happened during the Invasion?" Naruto sighed.

"This could take a while. Well… why don't I start with the Second Round of the Chuunin Exams and what happened there…"

_**Meanwhile… in Iwa**_

__Kurotsuchi was sitting in her room, in thought about the whole invasion. It had been just yesterday they got back… and she hadn't stopped thinking about what they did. She regretted nothing… in fact it got her a field promotion to Tokubetsu Jounin, which she was overjoyed about. But… she was confused. She was not feeling particularly guilty, she had killed before after all. It was just a mission, a very good-payed mission where she received S-rank payment. It was not anything _during _the Invasion, but something she was told by that redheaded puppeteer, that genin that seemed to be in charge in a good portion of Suna's strength because he was just _that _strong.

_"You know, Kurotsuchi, you're a lot like me. You know that?" He smiled slyly at her confused expression. "You're expected to be a loyal shinobi, simply because of something out of your control. Your reason is for being the prodigy granddaughter of Oonoki. Mine? I'm the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, _and _the prodigy son of a Kage. But look at me. I'm helping the number one rival to my own father, destroy his precious village. And the power to do so came by his own hand."_

_ Kurotsuchi tilted her head to the side. "How are we similar?" Naruto grinned foxily._

_ "You need to find that our yourself. Just make sure you make your decision on what to do before everything you think you love is gone and the decision is made for you." With that, the boy disappeared in his signature wood chip shunshin._

_ "What decision?"_

That had been three days before the Invasion… and it plagued Kurotsuchi's every thought. The boy… he was strong. Stronger as a Kage, at least. Well… she thought that was the case, anyways. What decision could he possibly have meant?

A knock came to her door just then. "What!"

A messenger Genin was at the now open door. "Kurotsuchi-san, Tsuchikage-sama has requested your prescence immediately." The girl sighed and got up.

"Alright, I'm on my way."

_**Sunagakure Council Chamber**_

Naruto continued his report. "And the second week of the break, I approached Neji-san here as well as Yakumo-san, and made them both the same offer. I offered them the opportunity to come to Suna and establish themselves as Clans. I realize my offer may have been above my station, but I thought it would be for the best if we gained two more clans for Suna's status and strength." Naruto bowed his head submissively, inwardly grinning as Chiyo, who was head of the Council until a new Kazekage could be named, spoke.

"On the contrary, Naruto-chan, you saw an opportunity and seized it, a very admirable trait in a shinobi. I propose we accept the Hyuuga and Kurama Clans into Suna, every member will be under a three month probation and will need to be tested for their rank within those three months."

Temari spoke up. "Subaku seconds the motion. All agreed?" Naturally, all of the members wanted more power for the village, and so most raised their hands, all but Chiyo's daughter, Ichimi.

"I will agree, on one condition that the Neji-san and Yakumo-san must agree to. You will each have at least five of your number train in puppeteering every year for the next five years. With the Hyuuga and Kurama superior chakra control, they should make fine kugutsu users."

"It shall be done." Neji stated.

"I know just the people…" was Yakumo's reply.

"Then the Puppet Corps backs the decision."

Chiyo smiled. "Then the Hyuuga and Kurama shall be instated as Suna clans in three months' time, with Hyuuga Neji and Kurama Yakumo being the Heads. Now then… you may continue, Naru-chan."

"Alright… so after that, the next big thing that happened was Tsunade-obaachan's arrival to Konoha…"

_**Konohagakure, Survivors' Camp**_

__The last living remains of Konohagakure no Sato, the last shinobi and civilians… numbered at a little over 700 shinobi once all the shinobi hot back from missions, and less than five hundred civilians, one hundred of which were children now enrolled in the Academy, once it was rebuilt. The Godaime Hokage was in his office listening to the report on the final losses of the village.

"We have lost tens of thousands of lives, Hokage-sama… the Branch Hyuuga Clan abandoned us, as well as the entire Kurama Clan, the other clans were all but annihilated, with the most survivors of a single one being two dozen Main Branch Hyuuga. All of the major clans, plus the Hebi and Fenikkusu have lost all their clan scrolls. Uchiha Sasuke was kidnapped by Orochimaru and his compound cleaned out by Uzumaki Naruto. Jiraiya is dead by Tsunade's hand. All major buildings of Konoha were destroyed. Our only saving grace is that Yamato is still alive to aid in the reconstruction of the village. The best estimate we can get, Hokage-sama, is that the village will be fully rebuilt within three months." Shikaku nodded and thought for a moment.

"Okay then. Inform those rebuilding the village that the Academy and Hospital are to be built first. As soon as the Academy is ready, we will begin with the lessons for our shinobi recruits. Active Jounin are also to still complete missions, it will require money to bring us back to our former glory. Do you understand your orders?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama." His subordinate stated coldly, this person absolutely hated whoever killed Shikamaru with a passion. They would pay for ever harming his best friend… they would be destroyed!

"Thank you… Chouji."

_**Sunagakure no Sato**_

__Naruto had just finished his recounting of the events before, during, and after the Invasion. He only left out his deal with Orochi and Sasori's new body. The thing that happened immediately afterwards… it made him speechless.

"I second that in motion." Temari stated. This was unexpected.

"The ANBU agrees." He never saw it coming.

"The Puppet Corps is backing all the way." How could he miss this?

"Academy also agrees." What the hell!

"Kaon will join in."

"Nigemizu is with Chiyo-sama's decision." They just…

"The Shinobi Forces will agree." …named him…

"Congratulations, Akasuna no Naruto." Chiyo stated cheerily. "You are hereby named the Godaime Kazekage."

_**And… CUT!**_

_**That's the chapter! What'd you guys think?**_

_**How will this development affect Naruto? And the Narutoverse? It will much different than canon (as if it follows canon anyways!) that's for sure.**_

_**So anyways… R&R! PM! Flamers will be forced to be paired with Sakura!**_

_**Until next time, Orpheus out! Ja ne!**_


	15. Chapter XV

_**Naruto of the Red Sands**_

_**Disclaimer: Naruto's a puppetmaster and Kazekage! Wait… he's not? Then I guess I don't own Naruto…**_

_**I know you guys probably hate me for that immense cliffhanger I left you with last chapter. But it got you to look forward to this one, didn't it?**_

_**Of course it did.**_

_**So now the biggest question is… what the hell happens next?**_

_**That's a good one. And the only way to figure out is to read…**_

_**Chapter XV: The New Kazekage**_

Naruto simply looked at the Council members in shock. "Me? Are you sure?" He asked plainly, only his wide eyes showing his surprise.

The Puppet Corps Leader spoke first. "You are the greatest puppeteer seen in our history, even surpassing Akasuna no Sasori himself."

"All of our ninja and civilians respect you immensely." The Jounin Commander stated.

"You have the utmost loyalty of many of the ANBU, for you have saved many of them from horrible deaths with your knowledge of poisons." ANBU Captain spoke.

"In this latest event, as well as many missions, you bring fresh students to the Academy." The Headmaster agreed.

"Your ninjutsu is top notch." Pakura stated for her clan.

"Your Genjutsu is comparable to that of the Kurama clan in effectiveness, excepting that of Yakumo herself." Nigemizu clan replied.

"I know you're perfect for the job, Naruto-kun." Temari stated cheerily.

"As do I." Chiyo said in a tone just as happy.

The redheaded puppeteer looked at them once more and sighed. "Alright… I accept. I will lead Sunagakure no Sato no Kaze no Kuni (The Village Hidden in Sands of the Land of Wind) to greatness as the Godaime Kazekage. I will take up the mantle of my predecessors as Wind Shadow to protect this village and lead it. That I promise." Naruto vowed and then glanced at Mito and Kushina. "And an Uzumaki never breaks a promise."

_**Tsuchikage's Office**_

__Kurotsuchi stood before her grandfather, who was grumpy as usual. "Ah, you're here. I have a mission for you Kurotsuchi, your first as a Tokubetsu Jounin. It will pay the value of three S-ranks every year split up between each month that you are on this particular mission. I wish for you to become the emissary of Iwa in Suna, as part of our alliance. You will act in my stead there and you have one other objective. You will spy on the forces of Suna to make sure they do not betray us. Understood?" Kurotsuchi kept her face calm, but was nervous on the inside.

She didn't have the answer for Naruto yet… then again… maybe she would find that answer in Suna after all. "I accept, Tsuchikage-sama." She stated. When should I leave?" Oonoki held up three fingers, signaling three days. With a nod and a sigh, Kurotsuchi disappeared in a swirl of lava.

The Tsuchikage sighed after she left and looked in the shadows, where one of his ANBU, his most trusted one, was. "Do you truly think this plan will work, Roach?"

The ANBU nodded. "Hai, Tsuchikage-sama. I could sense the turmoil within her. Someone such as Uzumaki will very much help her, and that will no doubt lead to what we wish."

Oonoki shook his head. "I can't believe I'm manipulating my own granddaughter into her eventual marriage… but the village must be protected."

_**Suna Council Chambers**_

Naruto sat in the Kazekage seat with a soft smile on his lips. At first he thought that this would hinder his plans but after thinking it over for a few days… he realized the potential of holding the seat of Kazekage had. That's why he stayed in Suna.

Currently, a few days after the arrival of Kurotsuchi to Suna, he was holding the first Council Meeting as Kazekage. On his left was the Shinobi Council, with some additions. Neji, Yakumo, and Kurotsuchi were there as bystanders. Haku was clan head of the recently instated Yuki clan, as Mito was for the Uzumaki clan. The Hospital was now represented by Shizune, since Tsunade represented the Senju Clan. Also on probation for their clans was Subeta for the Subeta. On his right was the Civilian Council, consisting of a total of seven civilians each over a different district of Suna.

Gouyoku Ouja was a rather hefty man in his mid-thirties with ash grey hair, dull brown eyes and who wore a yellow kimono with the symbol of the Merchants Guild, which was a camel with two humps carrying bags of gold on it, on his left breast.

Ikari Benihime had bright red eyes and dull reddish hair with streaks of white that was styled in a bun atop her head, as well as wore a red kimono with the symbol of the Suna Court System, which was a ball and chain locked around a gavel, on it.

Iro Kisaki was a beautiful heiress of one of the merchant families and had the figure of a model that she showed off nicely in her black silk kimono. Her eyes and hair were of the same color and the symbol on her kimono was that of the Arts, which was a paintbrush crossed with a chisel.

Taida Ouji was a rather thin man with pale skin, greasy black hair, and black eyes that looked lazy and calculative at the same time. He almost had the air of a Nara and his green kimono had the symbol of the Entertainment District on it, which was simply a roulette wheel.

Houshoku Kisai was a large woman with brown hair and eyes, and many layers of chins, stomach, arms, and legs that somehow fit into her blue kimono that had the symbol of the Restaurant District on it, a boar being roasted on a rotisserie.

Jiman Nushi was a brown-haired, green-eyed man that held that look of arrogance many Hyuuga did. His kimono was a snow white and had the symbol of what was commonly known as the 'Civilian Nobles', which were the group of civilians that held the most wealth in the civilian half of Suna, it was a crescent moon.

Lastly was Netami Okami, the Civilian Council Leader, who was a cold blonde with calculating brown eyes that always seemed to look for the weakness in everyone. Her purple kimono held a symbol of a balance in perfect equilibrium.

Naruto laoathed every last one of them. They only cared for their personal goals and Naruto nicknamed them the Sunagakure no Nanatsumi, or the Seven Sins of Suna. It was just too good an opportunity to pass up, since each one's surname was that of one of the seven sins… Greed, Wrath, Lust, Sloth, Gluttony, Pride, Envy… they described the Civilian Council perfectly.

And now, the Meeting would begin.

"Welcome, most esteemed Council." Naruto greeted from his seat. "I believed it was time for me to begin my first acts as Kazekage of Suna. I would also like to welcome Ryoutenbin no Kurotsuchi to our village, as the delegate of Iwagakure no Sato. I have already sent our own delegates to Iwa, my personal friends Sabaku no Kankuro and Nara Shikamaru. Now, onto business of the meeting. I would like to inform you all of the impending visit of two Kumo delegates to discuss alliance with myself."

"Excuse me, Kazekage-sama, but what would the terms needed for this alliance include? I will not allow any of my clan members to be sacrificed for such an alliance." Neji spoke. One of the civilians looked ready to attack the fact that he spoke, but Naruto held up his hand, stopping Okami.

"A fair question, Neji. I will not ask any of your members to go to Kumo, though if one were to volunteer, I would not object. No… this is the purpose I saved for one of the Main Branch Hyuuga sealed within a Stasis Scroll I gave to you. Would you not agree to one of them being used just as they used you in order to gain more power for Suna?" Naruto inwardly smiled at Neji's thoughtful expression.

"Can I choose which one?"

"By all means, Neji, take the one you wish to give to Kumo and inform me of your decision."

"Are you certain the Byakugan will be enough to sway Kumo into an alliance?" Mito asked.

"You do not know this, Mito, but Kumo attempted to kidnap the Hyuuga clan heir a decade ago from Konoha, all for the Byakugan. They are in sore want of bloodlines, with the Ranton being their only active kekkai genkai, if you do not count Ranton no Darui's Kurorai (Black Lightning), even though that is not a true kekkai genkai. Kumo will take alliance with whoever gives them a bloodline. That is a fact." He paused for a moment. "There is also another matter to discuss…"

Naruto looked at all of the Council. "After scanning the mind of Sannin no Jiraiya with one of the Yamanaka techniques in Suna's possession, I have discovered a great threat. They call themselves… Akatsuki."

_**Otogakure no Sato**_

In contempt, Tayuya watched Orochimaru training Sasuke. That Uchiha didn't deserve the life he had. Come to think of it… why was she with Orochimaru now anyways?

Why was she in Oto? Sure, Orochimaru saved her from that brothel in her old village… but what else had he done? His Cursed Seal of Earth merely made her weaker than if she didn't have it, and loyal to him. And Sas-gay by proxy. The rest of the Sound Five were all fucking annoying. The men all looked at her as if she was a piece of meat ready for purchase. The women all hated her for her rough tongue and her red hair. Her own 'friends' in the Sound Four were no different. Jiroubo tried to change her cursing ways. Kidoumaru tried to hit on her at every opportunity. Sakon was annoying as hell. And Kimimaro… well, he wasn't so bad, if not for his constant 'Orochimaru-sama this and Orochimaru-sama that' she would even respect him.

And then there was that faggot Kabuto who was probably in a threesome with Orochi and Sasugay. He had a tongue silver as his hair and wasn't to be trusted at all.

She stopped her inner thoughts when she noticed the Uchiha get his ass whipped by Kimimaro. She smirked at that and enjoyed his pain. No one could beat Kimimaro in a close-quarters fight. No one.

Just like no one could beat that puppeteer in a long-range fight… then again, he might be able to challenge Kimimaro. He was, after all, the youngest Kage in history, at a mere thirteen years old. Hm… then there was that thing Orochi-teme and him had agreed to… she could always go to Suna…

But what about Guren? Could she leave the only person she ever cared for?

And Guren wouldn't leave unless Yuukimaru came as well…

This might require some time to think it over…

_**Unknown Location**_

Gathered together in one room were the physical or holographic bodies of nine of the most wanted criminals in the Elemental Nations. Nine of the most dangerous individuals in this time.

Uchiha Itachi, Hoshigaki Kisame, Bakuton no Deidara, the masked nin Tobi, Kakauzu, Hidan, the plant-man Zetsu, Konan the Akatsuki no Tenshi (Angel of Akatsuki) and Pein, the Ame no Kami (God of Rain).

They were gathered to discuss what many were… Konoha destruction, and what it meant for them.

"The Ichibi, Nanabi, and Kyuubi containers are now all in Suna." Pein spoke emotionlessly from his Deva Path. "This will hinder our plans."

"How so, yeah?" Deidara asked in curiosity.

"Isn't it obvious?" Itachi said coldly. "With three in one area… one a Kage, one ANBU level, and the last soon to be that level, it will take more than a team of two to capture all three. And sending more than that at once is sure to only gain attention at the wrong time."

"Itachi-san is correct." Konan agreed. "This will cause our plans to be put back until we can be sure to get them individually."

"So… what do we do until then?" Kakuzu asked, hopeful for some more bounty hunting.

"Kakuzu and Hidan, you two will continue to hunt down missing-nins and either gain them as allies or collect their bounties." Kakuzu grinned and Hidan merely smirked. "Zetsu, continue to keep tabs on all of the jinchuuriki. Deidara, you and Tobi shall continue with your current objective."

"Yay! Tobi and Deidara-sempai will get those four!" Tobi loudly exclaimed.

"Yeah…"

"Itachi and Kisame, keep Kiri from allowing the Rebellion to win. I require the chaos of that place for a while longer yet…"

"Sure thing, Leader-sama, means more fights for me!" Kisame grinned toothily.

"Hai, Leader-sama…" Itachi stated coldly.

"We will meet again in two and a half years… that is when we will strike." Pein commanded, leaving the room with Konan following behind him. The other Akatsuki soon disappeared as well.

And they would stay that way for a long time…

_**Kumogakure no Sato**_

Team Bee stood before their Kage. It consisted of Samui, Omoi, and Karui, led by none other than the infamous Killer Bee. Ay looked at one of his most successful teams and just hoped they could succeed in this newest mission.

"Yo, bro!" Bee said. "How's it lookin', what's cookin'! What's this mission you need us to do, just give me a clue!" Bee idiotically rapped… very badly.

"Shut it Bee!" Ay commanded. "Anyways… I've got a mission for you four, A, possibly S-rank of the utmost importance in Suna."

Omoi suddenly looked fearful. "Oh no! Ay-sama wants us to assassinate the Kazekage! And that'll cause Suna to retaliate… which means that Iwa will as well, And if Suna and Iwa fight us, then it'll start the fourth Shinobi World War. And we'll lose, and then all of Kumo won't exist anymore! We'll all die! And if we all die…" he stopped talking as Karui hit him upside the head.

"Shut it, Omoi! He's not sending us to assassinate a kage." She looked at Ay. "Are you…?"

"No, not that." He looked at them. "You four are to go and secure an alliance with Suna. They already have one with Iwa and Oto, which caused the destruction of Konoha, according to my spies. It would not do to fall in battle because we are an enemy of what is likely to be the new most powerful hidden village. We cannot have another war on our hands."

They all looked at him and smirked. "Sure thing, fool, ya fool!" Bee announced, only to receive an Iron Claw to the face courtesy of his brother.

"I am the Raikage! Not a fool, ya fool!" Ay only then heard what he said. "And now you have me copying you! Go!" Ay promptly threw Bee out the window and watched as Team Bee left as well. Then he turned to look at his most hated enemy.

It wasn't the Yondaime Hokage, or a biju. Not an S-ranked shinobi. No this… it was much, much worse.

The bane of all Kage.

Paperwork.

_**Three Months Later **_

_**Konohagakure no Sato**_

Nara Shikakaku, Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, sat in the recently rebuilt Kage Tower. It had been his first order as Hokage, three months ago that the Genin be tested for Chuunin, Chuunin for Jounin, and Jounin for ANBU. The Chuunin Exams already ended, with what remained of the Konoha Twelve all making it, and that boy Sai told of his actual rank in ROOT, with Danzou's Juin gone with his death, and he was made ANBU.

There were about five or so other new Chuunin.

Shino and Lee also made Jounin for their intelligence of the first and downright power of the second.

Of all the Chuunin, about twenty or so made Jounin, and that was loose at best. Most were the right level, or nearly so, and Shikaku only hesitated because of their specialization.

Of the Jounin, about half were turned to the ANBU program.

One of his other orders, of the Academy, had worked out well too.

With the changed curriculum, getting rid of all but the basics of history and mathematics, bringing in the sciences, and upping every single of the shinobi classes, he had no doubt that the newer genin would be at least Chuunin level by their graduation. He had changed the Genin Exam as well, requiring the basic three jutsu in addition to at least one elemental jutsu, higher standards on the accuracy test, a written test on kekkai genkai, elemental weaknesses, and styles of fighting among the other ninja villages. There was also now a test of dispelling genjutsu, an increased prominence on taijutsu, classes for kenjutsu and also basics of fuinjutsu.

But it wouldn't be enough. He knew it.

They lost the Professor and Kami no Shinobi, Sarutobi Hiruzen.

They lost tens of thousands of people.

They lost hundreds of shinobi and kunoichi, if not thousands.

They lost many clan scrolls and the entire library, plus the Forbidden Scroll.

They lost the Hyuuga and Kurama clans.

They lost Jiraiya and Tsunade, plus Anko and Kakashi… four holders of Summoning Contracts.

They lost an entire generation of genin hopefuls… besides the ones who skipped that day. A mere twenty Academy students remained.

They lost… utterly and hopelessly. Konoha was at best, a minor village now. At worst… they were less than the others.

No jinchuuriki.

No jutsu scrolls save what people had on them and what had been rewritten in three months.

No Sannin on their side.

No Sharingan.

No Kuramas.

No Senju.

No Uzumaki.

Konoha was a shadow of its former self… one that not even a Nara could hope to make lethal in a short amount of time. Shikaku wasn't one to rush though… he was a planner, a genius strategist… he was a Nara, through and through. And he would bide his time until he could exact revenge on whoever caused this whole mess.

The new Kazekage, Orochimaru, and the Tsuchikage would feel his wrath one day… that's all that drove him. Shikaku had become… an avenger.

_**Sunagakure no Sato**_

__Within his office, Naruto sighed as he was left waiting for some of his shinobi. "Stop being so impatient." Temari ordered him. Naruto turned to look at her with a smile.

"I know Mari-chan… I can't help it though. I'm sending them off to war." Temari frowned at him andran a hand through his spiky red hair.

"They'll be fine. You know that. I'm worried too, you know. But what can I possibly help them by being worried? Just learn that you have to accept the risks." Naruto nodded to his blonde-haired girlfriend.

"I suppose you're right…" He replied skeptically. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Of course I'm right, you baka." She retorted with a small tug on his hair. He glared at her with some heat before her lips crashed onto his and he melted into the kiss. Just then…

The door opened to reveal the group of shinobi. Some watched in interest at their leader and the clan head of the Subaku in a heated kiss. Others glared at the blonde, or at the redhead. One was smirking and another had a look in her eyes only a mother could have at the pride of her son with a beautiful girl.

Gaara coughed and Temari jumped from her seat in Naruto's lap, blushing madly. Naruto kept his emotions under wraps though, like a good puppet master, and smiled at the group before him.

"Team Baki reporting." Baki stated. His team had changed to exclude Temari, who now handled clan affairs, and Kankurou, who was in Iwa, and took in Kin and Haku to their numbers.

"ANBU Infiltration Division squad 2, reporting." A Dragon-masked ANBU, who was Uzumaki Kushina, stated. She was in charge of the second squad of the ANBU responsible for Infiltration and Assassination, and was quickly having her squad move up the ranks. It consisted of herself, as commander, a scorpion-masked nin who was a master of kenjutsu, Haon Shoku, Pakura's nephew, who wore a Coyote mask and a Nigemizu clan member by the name of Genkaku who wore a Fox mask.

"Puppet Squad Three, reporting." A trio answered as one, they were the triplet sons of Ichimi and one of the better squads of the Puppet Corps. They each had red hair, brown eyes, and wore all black ANBU uniforms without masks. The eldest, Yokuchi, had a single red scroll on his back. The middle one, Kawaki, had no visible puppets or scrolls, but a pair of gloves made by Uzumaki Naruto himself that held his puppets. The youngest one, Yami, had storage tattoos all over his arms that housed his own puppets and looked like menacing, tribal tattoos as well.

"Team Tracker, reporting." Neji stated for the four man squad of himself, Karin, Fuu, and Yakumo, who had quickly become the best tracking squad in Konoha.

Naruto smiled as the three teams he had requested had finally arrived. "Good. Do you know why I have requested you all here today?"

Ryu (Dragon) spoke. "So we could watch you and Mari-chan there play tongue wrestling?" She asked with an invisible grin. Naruto shook his head with a sigh while Temari herself blushed furiously.

"No. I have requested you fifteen for a single purpose. We have alliances with all of the Great Shinobi Villages but one…"

_**Konohagakure no Sato**_

Shikaku looked at his best shinobi. "Gai, Asuma, and Kurenai. Commander Tenzou, Captain Neko, Hyuuga Hiashi. Sai. I have gathered you here for one reason." Shikaku looked at the named shinobi with hope. They were part of his plan. Gai's team was one of the best, even if they were missing Neji. Asuma was good as well, as his team has revamped their training with Shikamaru's death. Kurenai did well in taking in Sakura as well, and she was on her way to becoming the next Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha. "Gai, Asuma and Kurenai, you will take your teams, Tenzou, you shall take a squad of four ANBU, as will you Neko, and Sai, you shall take the remaining ROOT agents and…"

_**Sunagakure no Sato**_

"…we need Kirigakure on our side…"

_**Konohagakure no Sato**_

"… head to Kirigakure and…"

_**Suna**_

__"…aid them in the Rebellion…"

_**Konoha**_

"…and make sure to get an alliance with…"

_**Suna**_

"…the new Mizukage. Understood?"

_**Konoha**_

"Understood?"

"Hai! Hokage-sama!"

_**Sunagakure**_

"Hai! Kazekage-sama."

_**And that's Chapter End, plus the end of this troublesome filler. What a drag the whole wait was…**_

_**I had to rewrite some parts of this… four times.**_

_**Anyways, be ready for next chapter, and the beginning of the first original arc of Red Sands, the Kiri arc!**_

_**What will happen when Konoha and Suna meet?**_

_**Which side will Kiri take?**_

_**And more importantly…**_

_**When will Chouji and Shikaku meet 'Shikamaru'?**_

_**But all that's beside the point, the real point is…**_

_**R&R! PM! Flamers will be forced to watch Sasugay's most perverted fantasies involving Itachi, Orochi and Kakashi.**_

_**Until next time, Orpheus out!**_


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